Digimon Adventure X
by The Lord of All Chaos
Summary: It's been one year since the defeat of MaloMyotismon and an ancient evil is being uncovered. This terrible and ancient power will throw the digidestined into an adventure that will not only have them battling evil, but also themselves. Discontinued.
1. Return of the Digidestined

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

**Episode One: Return of the Digidestined**

Outskirts, Viral Realms

Centarumon strode across the dark ground. Thunder roared in the distance. He glanced up, at the eternal thunderstorm of black lightning that raged over Viral Capital. He nearly forgot about the deep pit in the ground. He took one step too far and nearly toppled over the edge.

A robotic arm snatched out at him, pulling him back onto solid ground. Centarumon looked up at his saviour. It was Mekanorimon and on his shoulder rode Gennai. He was in his old form. It drained his energy to be in his young form unless he was in the world of the digidestined.

"Centarumon I came as quick as I could," Gennai said, jumping from the shoulder of Mekanorimon onto the ground. "So what appears to be the trouble?"

"I have found it Gennai," Centarumon spoke quickly and direct to the point. A habit he only performed when he was scared. "The body."

Gennai glanced down into the pit and saw a reptilian digimon fossilised at the bottom. His wings were spread apart, as if he were about to take flight. His appearance was dragon like. His fingers ended in talons, his mouth was open, so Gennai could see it's many teeth. Gennai shuddered and took a step back.

"Have you tried to destroy it?" Gennai asked.

"All that I know Gennai," Centarumon said shaking his head. "He seams to be indestructible even immobilised."

"Then we must make sure they never find him," Gennai said and turned to Mekanorimon. "We need a secure perimeter around this place. Mekanorimon, Tankmon and Guardromon. We might even need Leomon, Ogremon and Adromon to help."

"Yes sir," Mekanorimon replied in his metallic voice. Gennai leaped to his shoulder and Mekanorimon prepared for lift off.

"Be ready for anything Centarumon!" Gennai yelled over the sound of jet engines. "Who knows what forces are willing to get their hands on it!"

As Gennai left Centarumon to his post, unknown to either of them, Harugamon rushed back to the Viral Capital.

Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

Harugamon reached the balcony of the tower panting slightly. There were three other digimon up there with him. There was a tall black digimon, with an arm ending in a claw. His face was a mask of metal. One eye was a small robotic camera, the other was purely organic. His other hand was horribly mutilated, grey and veined.

The other was a slightly shorter digimon with one leg on a caterpillar track. His hand was constantly shifting almost always moving, never staying fixed on one thing never, but Harugamon could make out a laser and an actual robotic fist. His chest had a large cannon retracted into itself. The final digimon was a snivelling Tyranamon.

"So there is nothing else you can tell us?" the Lord of Darkness asked. Tyranamon nodded. "Then you are of no further use to use." He nodded and his taller accomplice raised his clawed hand.

"Lunar claw!" he bellowed. His arm shot off his shoulder. It struck Tyranamon in the chest. He screamed in pain as he dissolved into fragments of data. The black digimon strode over to pick up his clawed arm as his leader focused his attention upon Harugamon.

"What is it?" he snapped.

"You were right my lord," Harugamon said bowing, or as close to a bow as he could get with no legs. "Gennai has located the body. We finally have all of the pieces."

"Excellent," the Lord of Darkness said clapping his hands. Then he paused. "Knowing Gennai he has put up a perimeter, yes?" Harugamon nodded.

"Let me destroy them all master," the tall digimon said kneeling upon one knee.

"Gennai will summon the digidestined," he muttered to himself. "Why not let him? It has been too long since we have had a challenge."

"So that means no destruction of the perimeter?"

"No my old friend," Darkness replied sneering. "You shall have an even greater challenge."

Unknown Location, Digital World

He was surrounded by darkness. It engulfed him. He raised his hand to his face. He couldn't see it. Then the pain started. It coursed through him, forcing itself into his skin. He screamed in agony but the darkness wasn't air. He started to choke on it as he bucked and writhed. He swam through the darkness and he could just see through it outside somewhere. His friends were held up to a cliff face by stone restraints. His partner digimon lay curled up in a ball nearby. His vision blurred. He was going to die he knew it. The darkness clouded his mind he was falling, falling. And then…

Kamiya Home, Odaiba, Tokyo

…Tai hit his bedroom floor hard. He grunted as he got back to his feet. He looked around him. His bedroom was shrouded in darkness. He strode to the balcony and opened the door ignoring the cold. He leaned against the balcony and stared out over the city. That was easier said than done, as Tai was standing one storey high. New house, new perspective.

Tai sighed and stepped back into his bedroom. He looked at his digimon partner Agumon. He was curled up in a ball at the end of Tai's bed. He looked a lot like he had in Tai's dream. The only difference was that Agumon was not covered in scratches.

Tai closed the balcony door and looked at his arm. Was it his imagination, or did his skin look like it had been pierced by a thousand needles of pain? He shook his head and looked again. His skin looked normal. Tai looked at the pictures on his desk.

All of his friends. Individual and group photos mixed. Tai looked at the picture of Sora and her partner digimon, Biyomon. He smiled. Looking at that picture always calmed him down. Tai slipped back into bed and tried to get back to sleep.

"Dreaming again," Agumon said from the end of his bed. Tai smiled before replying

"I thought you were asleep," he said closing his eyes.

"Who can sleep with you muttering in your sleep?" Agumon asked. "You were screaming."

"Something's coming Agumon," Tai said falling slowly into sleep. "We need to be ready. We have to be..."

And with that he fell asleep.

Izumi Apartment, Odaiba, Tokyo

Tentomon was asleep. He was curled up at the end of Izzy's bed. A few sparks of electricity left his antenna. Izzy was still awake, a small cup of coffee beside his laptop. His fingers were a blur across the keyboard.

He was shifting bits and pieces of data. Broken codes and combinations from the digital world. He finally reached the file he was searching for. It was entitled simply: Digiport. The screen was filled with a full map of the world. He zoned in on Japan. He saw a small anomaly. He zoomed in on Tokyo, then on Odaiba. There it was. The place where, supposedly, digimon were unable to come into the real world, thanks to the sacrifice of BlackWarGreymon.

But now digimon were breaching the real world. Small spots of digiports were opening over Odaiba and on the outskirts as well. Izzy was trying to find out why and how.

An icon flashed at the corner of the screen. An envelope flashing bright red. Izzy groaned.

"Not now," he yawned. He clicked on the icon and it opened up. The email sender was Gennai. Izzy spluttered on a mouthful of coffee.

The email said: Izzy. The digital world is under threat. An evil entity has been uncovered. You need to be prepared for a journey. Gennai.

"Cryptic as ever Gennai," Izzy muttered. He glanced down into his coffee and sighed. "Out of coffee." He tried to get up out of his chair, but collapsed down, his eye's closed. He was asleep before he hit the chair.

Kamiya home, Odaiba, Tokyo

Tai was woken again by a hammering at his bedroom door.

"Tai!" his younger sister Kari yelled at him from behind the door. "Breakfast!"

Tai snapped awake. He fell out of bed and hit the floor again. He climbed to his feet, slipped on a dressing gown and rushed out of his bedroom, nearly tripping over his cat, Miko. He rushed downstairs, the smell of pancakes filling his nostrils, Agumon clumsily tripping up over Miko and falling downstairs, nearly tripping Tai up.

Tai rushed into the kitchen and was greeted by his mother at the cooker. She smiled at him and nodded to the table. Tai looked and saw Kari already digging into her pancakes, her partner digimon, Gatomon, looking up at her expectantly.

"See you started without me," Tai said slightly bitter.

"Your pancakes will be ready in a few minutes sweetie," Tai's mom said smiling, "You might as well get dressed."

Tai nodded and turned back out of the kitchen. Tai raced back upstairs into his bedroom. He pulled off his dressing gown, slipped on his blue jeans and then his grey shirt with added hood. He glanced at the grey stars on his shoulders and grinned, before sprinting back downstairs just in time to say goodbye to his father before he left for work.

Tai skidded into the kitchen as his mother put some pancakes onto his plate. Agumon was already scooping handfuls of pancake into his mouth. Gatomon was clawing up her pancakes into her little cat mouth. Tai sat down with his pancake and began drowning it in golden syrup and sugar.

As soon as that was done he rolled his pancakes up and began attacking them with gusto. As the blur of Tai's hand's finished, Tai's digivice began beeping and flashing. Tai looked at his sister and they sighed.

"I'll catch you up," Kari sighed. She ran upstairs, Gatomon pounced after her.

"Come on Agumon," Tai said and they got up. Tai looked at his mother and looked apologetic. She nodded.

"Go on save the world," she said forcing a smile.

"Thanks mom," Tai said looking relived. He dashed out the front door, Agumon following him.

Downtown Odaiba, Tokyo

"Howling Blaster!" Garurumon roared, a blast of frozen energy leaving his open jaws.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon yelled, diving at MegaSeadramon.

"Thunder Javelin!" MegaSeadramon shouted. A bolt of lightning left the horn on his head, colliding with the two other digimon attacks, cancelling them out, and throwing Stingmon out of the sky in the process.

"Stingmon!" Ken yelled sprinting after his partner digimon.

"Looks like it's just you and me Garurumon," Matt said looking back at his partner and the opponent they were facing. Just then a blue digimon with flaming red and yellow armour leapt forward.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon yelled as he launched himself at MegaSeadramon. MegaSeadramon looked at his new opponent just as the attack hit. But the fire bounced harmlessly off him.

"Hit him again Flamedramon!" Davis yelled as he came up to Matt. "Hey Matt."

"Hey Davis," Matt greeted his friend. "Any idea's how we beat this thing?"

"Electro Shocker!"

"Meteor Wing!"

The two attacks combined in the air and exploded on contact with MegaSeadramon. Birdramon and Kabuterimon landed in the middle of the street, staying on the ground long enough to drop Izzy and Sora off before taking to the air once more.

"Hey Matt," Sora yelled. She ran up to her boyfriend and he smiled.

"Hi Sora," he smiled.

"Enough with the lovey dovey stuff!" Davis yelled as MegaSeadramon dived at Flamedramon. Flamedramon tried to leap out of the way but MegaSeadramon's tail whipped out and wrapped itself around his leg.

"Thunder Javelin!" MegaSeadramon roared and blasted Flamedramon. A flash of light blasted from the tip of MegaSeadramon. When the light faded, Flamedramon had disappeared.

"Flamedramon!" Davis yelled. Then Flamedramon was thrown from nowhere straight at MegaSeadramon.

"Fire Rocket!" he roared. His voice was answered by another digimon.

"Hand of Faith!" yelled Angemon. Immense light mixed with searing flame. But the blast was not enough to even scratch MegaSeadramon.

"Well that's not good," T.K. said as he ran up to join his brother.

The small camera beamed all the information of the fight straight to the dark tower. The Lord of Darkness sat and watched the fight rage on.

"They cannot hope to defeat MegaSeadramon without digivolving further." his dark assistant stood beside him looking smug. "And I never got my turn."

"MegaSeadramon is growing weary," Darkness said. "He will soon be too weak to withstand the digidestined."

He leaned across to his desk, and pressed it. A loud beeping started and a holographic list appeared in front of him. He looked at the list and smiled. He reached forward and tapped on one of the digimon.

"Let's see if they can handle this."

MegaSeadramon was slowing down. The attacks were weakening him. He was slowly losing power. The line of digimon were ready to unleash the attack that would delete him when…

"ARRRGHH!" MegaSeadramon screamed in pain. His data fragmented, but it hung in the air.

"What's going on?" T.K. asked looking concerned. "If he's been deleted shouldn't his data go back to the digital world?"

Then there was a bright flash of light and a second stream of data flowed into MegaSeadramon's. The data began to reform itself. A second flash of light and a new digimon stepped forward.

"What sort of digimon is that?" Matt asked looking bewildered. Izzy flipped open his laptop and checked on his digimon analyser.

"It says that this is a merged digimon," Izzy explained. "A combination of two different digimon. It's a sort of forced DNA digivolution. This one is MarineAndromon, mega level, special attack Ocean Laser."

"Mega? We could barely beat an ultimate!" Davis yelled looking exasperated.

"Nova Blast!" a digimon yelled from behind them.

"Tempest Wing!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Gold Rush!"

The four attacks swirled together and their combined force blasted MarineAndromon off his feet. Greymon stepped over them and Tai, Kari and Gatomon slid off his tail. Halsemon and Yolei landed beside them and Digmon and Cody burst up from underground.

"Always late," Matt sighed.

"Hey we had to come from the other side of Odiaba!" Tai snapped.

"Stop it you two," Joe yelled as he ran up to them. "We have to figure out how to defeat the freak."

MarineAndromon seemed to have heard him as he turned and roared. His voice was stale and metallic. He raised one arm and a strange mechanical barrel. A light began to glow at the end.

"Ocean Laser!" he roared.

Gennai's home, Sever, Digital World

Gennai watched as the digidestined scrambled out of the way of the attack. Gennai shook his head and walked over to the other side of the room and pulled open a draw. Inside there was a small box. There were twelve items in the box. Gold and silver. Gennai took the box out of the draw and smiled.

"Time to give you back," he said chuckling.

Downtown Odaiba, Tokyo

Greymon was hit by the full force of the attack. He was blasted down the street. He fell onto his back. He began to glow as he dedigivolved back into Agumon.

"Agumon!" Tai yelled as he ran after his digimon partner.

"Ocean Laser!" MarineAndromon yelled again. The blast hit Garurumon in the chest, as he was looking at Agumon and Tai. Garurumon flew backwards, dedigivolving back into Gabumon in midair.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled following Tai's example. Tai and Matt reached their digimon partners.

"This is bad," Tai said to Matt.

"Tell me about it," Matt replied. "There's no way we can beat him without digivolving to Ultimate or Mega."

"But how can we?" Tai asked looking desperate. "Our crest's were lost, remember."

As Tai finished speaking a golden light appeared in both of their hands. Tai and Matt looked down at the object's appearing in there hands. Tai's jaw dropped. The tag around it had vanished and the colour had changed but there was no denying that the objects in their hands were there old crests. Tai looked at Agumon.

"Hey Agumon," Tai said looking hopeful. "You feel like you could manage one more round?"

Agumon nodded. Tai and Matt stood up, placing the there crests around there necks. They started to glow, Tai's with a bright orange light, Matt's with a deep blue. Agumon and Gabumon suddenly began to glow.

"Agumon warp digivolve to…!"

"Gabumon warp digivolve to…!"

Birdramon hit the road. Hard. She shrieked in pain and dedigivolved back into Biyomon. Sora ran up to her and picked her up. Flamedramon was thrown down the road three blocks straight into Digmon. Both digimon fell down and dedigivolved back into Veemon and Armadillomon.

"We can't beet him," Joe cried desperately.

"Wanna' bet?" a gruff voice asked from behind him. Joe turned around and saw an orange digimon, dressed in grey and yellow battle armour. WarGreymon.

"Terror Force!" WarGreymon roared, focussing all the energy around him into his hands, and throwing it at MarineAndromon. The blast threw him off his feet and crashed into a bridge down the road.

"Save some for me!" There was a wolf like howl and MetalGarurumon flashed past. "Metal Wolf Claw!" The blast of icy energy struck MarineAndromon and froze him in place. But the ice instantly cracked open and the aquatic terror was lose once again, and heading for Gatomon.

"Gatomon!" Kari screamed. There was a glow of silver and a flash of pink.

"Gatomon digivolve to... Angewomon!"

The angelic digimon soared above MarineAndromon and kicked him down. MarineAndromon bellowed in rage and launched himself up at the flying digimon. He grasped her boot and pulled her back down. Angewomon pointed a gloved hand at her opponent and a bow appeared from it. She drew an arrow and prepared to fire.

"Celestial Arrow!" she yelled and launched the glowing arrow. The attack flew through the air and caught MarineAndromon in the eye. He screamed in pain and let go of Angewomon and was caught in the gut by an attack from WarGreymon.

"Mega Claw!"

MarineAndromon grunted in pain and hit the ground. MetalGarurumon launched himself into the air. Angewomon hovered above prepared to strike again.

"Terror Force!" WarGreymon roared.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon bellowed.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon yelled.

The attacks mixed in mid air. The explosion sent rubble in every direction. Tai knew that they had won.

Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

"Well," the Lord of Darkness said looking slightly impressed. "There's something you don't see everyday."

Izumi apartment, Odaiba, Tokyo

Koromon, Tsunamon and Salamon, were curled up at the end of Izzy's bed, asleep. Izzy and the rest of the digidestined were sat on a collection of chairs, Sora on Matt's lap.

"Somehow a digimon in the digital world has discovered a way to create merged digimon a will," Izzy said looking concerned. "And not only that but they have managed to destroy the barrier above Odaiba that stop's digimon entering our world through from the digital world."

"So how do we fix it?" Davis said, looking at his silver crest, the crest of destiny.

"Can't we just fix it from here?" Matt asked looking at Izzy from behind Sora. Izzy shook his head.

"The energy that's doing this is too strong to override from this world," he said looking disappointed. "We have to go to the digital world, try and find way to seal the rift, destroy this evil digimon and hopefully make it back for Christmas."

"Christmas is in two weeks Izzy," Tai pointed out. Izzy smiled.

"That's where the rift plays into our advantage. The time difference between our world and the digital world has increased. We can now stay a month in the digital world and in this world a day will have passed."

"So we go to the digital world and save it like usual," Yolei said her fingers wrapped around her crest of unity.

"Looks like it," Kari said looking excited.

"We need to get supplies ready then," Joe said looking tired.

"We need Mimi though," Ken pointed out.

"I can arrange a digiport for Mimi to take her to our location," Izzy said looking prepared. "We meet at the park at seven tomorrow. Tell your parents where you're going, or make something up."

The digidestined were waiting at seven thirty five. Davis was late. Agumon had gone back to sleep. Gatomon was nodding off.

"Where is he?" Matt said looking frustrated.

"Matt calm down," Sora said looping an arm around his waist. Tai clenched his fist and locked his jaw.

"There," Ken said pointing. Davis was coming from across the other side of the park, Veemon in a shoulder bag.

"Sorry I'm late," he said breathlessly.

"You kept us waiting for over half an hour!" Kari exasperated.

"Well he over slept like usual," Veemon piped up from Davis' side.

"Shut up," Davis said punching his digimon partner on the head.

"Hey leave Veemon alone," Tentomon said hovering over. "He needs all the brain cells he has left."

"Before this becomes a fully fledged war," Izzy interrupted. "We need to get into the digital world."

"Hurry up then and let's go!" Tai said. Izzy opened up the digiport and stepped aside for Kari.

"The digital world has all but sealed itself off," Izzy explained. "We can only make a digiport to File Island. Kari would you do the honours?" Kari nodded and stepped forward raising her D-3.

"Digiport open!" she yelled. Each of the other digidestined raised their digivices as a light exploded from the screen of Izzy's laptop. They were going back to the digital world.

To be continued...


	2. The Star of Destiny

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Two: The Star of Destiny

Yokomon village, Gear Savannah, File Island

The ground rushed up to meet Sora. She fell through the air, the other digidestined falling alongside her. They were too high up. They couldn't survive a fall like that. Suddenly something caught her arm, nearly pulling it from her socket. She glanced up, and saw Biyomon beating her wings as fast as she could.

Sora looked down at the ground again. It wasn't coming up nearly as fast, but her digidestined friends were still falling three times faster. Then Sora could see the village. Small houses with thatched roofs. The occupants must have been no taller than her knee.

Something caught her friends. She didn't see what it was but they were swept away through the air. Sora's feet touched the ground and for the first time she noticed the sweltering heat. The heat addled her mind and it was a few seconds before she noticed where he was.

It was the Yokomon village, where Biyomon had first digivolved into Birdramon. She frowned. Something was wrong. Then the Yokomon had welcomed them with smiles and offerings of food and water. Now the Yokomon weren't even roaming their streets.

She felt a tug at the base of her jeans. She looked down and saw a small Yokomon tugging at them. She had fear in her eyes and a terrified look on her face.

"Come on," she whispered. "They'll be back soon."

She waddled away on her root like legs. Sora looked at Biyomon, who nodded and followed the Yokomon. She led them to a building that was larger then the others. It looked like it could hold about forty Yokomon. The Yokomon slipped inside and Sora crouched down to follow her.

The Yokomon remained silent, a root like finger to her lips. Sora stayed quiet, until she heard something disturb the sand outside. It wasn't the footsteps of a human, nor the sliding of a Yokomon. It was a spiritual digimon moving around outside. Then she heard a voice speak.

"Ah, here's one," it said, so soft it could've been made of the air. Another voice, more harsh and dark the first one spoke.

"That makes eleven," he muttered. "There's supposed to be twelve."

"They could have flown away," a third voice suggested. There was a sound like metal hitting skull and a cry of pain.

"Imbecile," the second voice snarled.

"We may not need to take this one," the first voice said. "He looks like he's about to snuff it anyway."

"Keep an eye on this one," the second voice said. "We shall take the others to the labyrinth."

"Yes sir," a new voice snarled. Sora shivered. That digimon voice she knew. Bakemon. The strange floating sound appeared again and the leaders vanished. The Yokomon sighed.

"The Bakemon are dense," she explained. "They don't mind what we do, as long as we don't answer back."

"I have to go see if my friend is okay," Sora said looking pained. The Yokomon grabbed her jeans leg.

"The best thing you can do for your friend is to go find Leomon," the Yokomon insisted. Sora gulped, but nodded.

"What about my friend?"

"We'll help him as much as we are allowed."

And with that, she slid away.

Something hot and wet, was trickling down the side of Tai's face. There was a stabbing pain in his skull and he felt bruised all over. He groaned and opened his eyes. A blazing white sum shone his eyes. He snapped his eyes shut. Then he heard a slow voice make a gargling sound.

"Hey did he just blink?" a rasping voice said.

"No 'cause he didn't," a second voice rasped.

"How d'you know? You weren't looking."

Tai twitched his foot slightly. He gasped in pain. He didn't know much about medical stuff, but he could tell he had broken his leg.

"There he moved," the first voice said.

"Wake up!" the second voice roared. Tai yelled in agony. Whatever was up with his head, it didn't help with loud noises.

"I think he's awake," a new, high-pitched squeak said. Tai winced. He tried rolling over and instantly regretted it. His arm stung like fire.

"He needs medical treatment," a second squeaky voice said.

"Ah why should we give it to him?" the first voice said.

"He might die," the first squeaky voice prompted. "And you're orders are to take them all to him _alive_."

"Uh she's right. If he snuffs it we'll be in _so_ much trouble."

"Okay do your medic stuff on him."

Tai felt a hand on his shoulder. At least that was how he could describe it. It was more like a tentacle.

"Drink," a soft squeak said. "It will help will your injuries."

Tai opened his eyes slightly and saw a Yokomon standing there with a bottle in her hand. She tipped it up and let a trickle of water flow into his mouth. He recognised the taste instantly. Mount Meharashi water. He was at the Yokomon village. Tai knew the water was the best of the universe, but he had no idea that it had healing powers.

The aching pounding in his skull reseeded slightly and the swelling in his arm and leg was brought down. The Yokomon tipped the last of the water down his throat and threw the bottle away.

"That's the best we can to," the Yokomon said. A Bakemon floated into his vision.

"Well lets make sure he won't snuff it," the Bakemon snarled.

Suddenly a blast of fiery energy struck the Bakemon square in the face. The ground trembled slightly and another stroke of energy blasted another Bakemon out of the air. Then a voice Tai new all to well spoke.

"You Bakemon are as foolish as you are dense," Leomon said as he strode over to Tai. He leaned forward and prompted a hand to Tai. Tai used his not broken arm and grabbed the hand offered to him. Leomon pulled Tai to his feet. He gasped as he put pressure on his broken leg.

"That must have hurt," a voice said. Tai looked over and saw Sora walking over to him.

"I think in fairness I should be dead," Tai said grinning.

"I'll rectify that mistake," a ghostly voice said. Leomon turned around. A thin sliver of black energy struck him in the chest. He was throw backwards.

"You never could learn to keep your nose out of other peoples business Leomon," Phantomon said. "If you had any sense at all, you'd leave this village alone."

"These digimon have done nothing towards you or your master," Leomon snarled. The Phantomon sniggered.

"You should know by now that _all_ of File Island is under our control. If you had any sense you'd leave the digidestined with us. I mean, you're a Champion, we are Ultimate."

"We would be?" Tai asked, his vision blurring from the pain in his leg. Two more Phantomon floated into view, scythes raised.

"You are outmatched, Leomon," the second Phantomon said.

"We'll see about that," Leomon growled. A golden light began to envelop him. "Leomon digivolve to… SaberLeomon!"

The Phantomon backed off slightly at the sight of the mega level digimon. But their leader raised his scythe again not backing down.

"There are three of us," he hissed. "And only one of you. How long can you hold out, I wonder?"

SaberLeomon was about to pounce. Tai winced in pain, as he was still resting on SaberLeomon. Sora quickly got under one f Tai's arms just as SaberLeomon lunged.

"Get him to the well," a high-pitched voice squeaked. Sora looked down and saw the Yokomon who had hidden her. Sora looked at Tai who nodded. Sora and Biyomon together manoeuvred Tai over to the well.

A Yokomon jumped up to the lip of the well. She dipped a bucket of water into the well and gave it to Tai. Tai didn't wait for the Yokomon to fill up the glass. He dunked his head straight into the water and began to drink. The water burned against the cut on his head but he ignored the pain. The an agonising spasm ran through his arm and leg. The twisted and cracked as they mended themselves.

The next thing Tai knew he was on his back on the ground again, Sora looking at him. He realised that he must've blacked out from the pain. He looked at his arm. The swelling had disappeared and there was a thin white scar but the arm had mended itself.

"You okay?" she asked, concern across her face.

"Never better," he grinned.

SaberLeomon flew over their heads, two of the Phantomon flying after him. The third flying straight at them, surrounded by Bakemon minions. The Bakemon flew faster than their master, snarling with glee. SaberLeomon launched him at the ghostly minions.

"GO!" SaberLeomon roared. Sora looked at SaberLeomon but Biyomon needed no persuasion.

"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"

Birdramon beat her wings hard, and grabbed the two digidestined. Tai and Sora watched as SaberLeomon was overpowered by sheer weight in numbers.

"He'll be okay," Tai said, seeing the look on Sora's face. "What we need to do is find the others. Did those phantom idiots say where they were taking the others?"

"Yeah," she said. "They said something about a labyrinth."

"Centarumon's labyrinth," Tai said, understanding Sora's words instantly. "Lets go."

Birdramon nodded, and beat her wings, taking them across the Gear Savannah.

Temple Labyrinth, File Island

Birdramon landed in the forest skirting the labyrinth. An unfortunate Mekanorimon was blasted sky high as he prepared to attack them. There were several guards surrounding the labyrinth but not too many.

Birdramon dedigivolved back into Biyomon. Tai and Sora looked at the entrance to the labyrinth. Tai shook his head. Most of the guards were situated around the entrance.

"We can't get through that many guards," Tai said frowning.

"Maybe there's a secret entrance," Biyomon suggested.

"There is," a familiar voice said. As Sora said spun around with a gasp, Tai crouched there barely registering the voice that had spoken.

"Hey Centarumon," Tai said, without looking up.

"Mind not sneaking up on us next time," Sora said looking cross.

"Sorry," Centarumon said looking less bothered. "But you obviously need someone to give you directions and find the secret entrance."

"You're obviously the right guy for the job," Tai said looking pleased. "Let's go."

Centarumon turned and walked off into the woods. Tai, Sora and Biyomon followed him.

Centarumon stopped in a wide clearing. He bent down and pulled at a brass ring in the grass. A long chain of brass clinked up from the ground. The chain pulled up a chunk of ground, revealing a long winding staircase.

"Let's go," Tai said. He stepped down onto the stairs.

His digivice went haywire, lights and frequent beeps emanated constantly from it. He grabbed it from his belt and looked at it. A golden dot was flashing on the screen. This was a new signal. The dot had never been gold before.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"I'm getting a weird signal," Tai said looking at his digivice again. Sora joined him on the step and looked at her digivice.

"I'm not getting anything," Sora said frowning. Centarumon frowned, then shook his head.

"Could it be?" he muttered.

"Could what be?" Biyomon asked looking slightly concerned.

"I think that it might be..." Centarumon murmured.

"Might be what?" Tai asked firmly.

"The Star of Destiny," Centarumon finished.

"I thought that was a legend," Biyomon gasped.

"What's the Star of Destiny?" Sora asked. Centarumon was about to answer when the sound of caterpillar tracks began to get closer.

"Time to go," Tai said. He jogged down into the tunnel. Sora and Biyomon followed, Centarumon close behind. The tunnel closed behind them, and electric lights came on all the way down the tunnel.

"So who's in charge of the operation here?" Tai asked as they walked.

"File Island is in the grip of a digimon only known as The Shadow," Centarumon answered. "But the kidnapping of the rest of the digidestined is an operation under the control of Spacemon."

"Sounds like you know him," Sora said, detecting the resentment in his voice. Centarumon nodded.

"We are as you would say rivals," Centarumon growled. "But he won't fight me in combat."

"Why not?" Tai asked. "You're pretty strop for a champion."

"Than you Tai, however Spacemon is in a different league to me."

"Well now we know who's in charge," Sora said looking slightly bored. "What's the Star of Destiny?"

"It is a pentagram," Centarumon said looking down the passage at Tai's back. "What you would call a five pointed star. It is made of Golden Chrome Digizoide, twice as hard as the regular stuff. It marks the leader of the digidestined. Any other human or digimon that tries to hold it, will be burned greatly."

"So is that why Tai's digivice can detect it but not mine?"

"Yes and no. Tai's digivice can detect it because he is the descendant of the first digidestined."

"You mean those kids you destroyed the first thing that came from behind the great wall of fire?" Tai asked.

"No. The first digidestined came around, thirty... actually Gennai should explain the history of the digital world."

"Hey we're here," Biyomon said looking at a slightly brighter light at the base of the tunnel.

The tunnel opened out into a huge chamber, lit by orange fires in wall brackets. Centarumon stepped into the room and looked around. Whatever he was looking for was clearly not there as he sighed and turned around.

"We must move quickly," Centarumon spoke softly. He picked up Tai and Sora by the necks and lifted them up, dropping them on his flank.

He then galloped down a passage at full speed. The wall brackets flickered past at an impossible pace. At one point an unfortunate Tankmon got in the way. Centarumon didn't slow down and punched it in the side of the head. It flew down the corridor for fifty feet. Centarumon jumped over the wreckage without losing speed.

Centarumon rounded a corner, just as a Mekanorimon burst through the wall behind them. Its robotic arm snaked out and caught Tai by the neck. Tai was yanked backwards down the tunnel and landed painfully on the rubble strewn floor. The Mekanorimon raised its arms to fire. Tai grabbed the first thing he could lay his hands on. He raised it to his chest just as the Mekanorimon attacked.

"Twin Beam!" it hollered. The red stream of light struck the thing in his hands, shattered and rebounded. The Mekanorimon screamed as its own attack spit its data in two.

Tai looked at the thing in his hands. When he had picked it up it had been covered in clumps of earth. Now it was clean and spotless. It was a pentagram, golden and raised in the centre. Tai could guess what he was holding.

"The Star of Destiny," he murmured.

"Tai!" Sora yelled from up the tunnel. Tai looked up. Centarumon was grappling with something. Centarumon appeared to be losing as they broke through a wall.

Tai ran up to her, just as his digivice shone brightly. He glanced at it briefly. It stretched and became a golden D-3, the crest of courage flashing once on the screen.

Just as Tai reached Sora, a third digimon joined the fight between Centarumon and the unknown attacker.

"Matt!" Tai yelled. Matt looked down from MetalGarurumon and smiled.

"Hey Tai!" he yelled back. "Thought you were a goner."

As Tai opened his mouth to reply, Centarumon screamed. The three digidestined and MetalGarurumon leapt through the wall. Centarumon's head was held in a death grip by a tall black digimon, with mask of metal for a face.

"Yield Centarumon," the black digimon muttered. "And I shall end you suffering quickly."

"Leave him alone!" MetalGarurumon roared. "Metal Wolf Claw!"

The Icy steam knocked the black digimon off his feet, and into the opposite wall. The wall cracked on impact, but did not break. They black digimon got up and brushed himself off.

"Well that had a little more impact than yours Centarumon," he said, grinning darkly, a hint of rage in his voice.

A ball of fire flew over MetalGarurumon's head and struck the black digimon in the face. The only affect was that he grew even angrier.

"You're causing too much trouble for a rookie!" he roared.

"What can I say? I get it from Tai," Agumon said as he jumped though the gap in the wall.

"Agumon!" Tai cried, pleased to see his partner once again.

"Well I can get rid of three digidestined, three of their partner digimon, and my rival," the tall digimon muttered to himself.

"Not goanna happen," Tai muttered. He raised his D-3 to Agumon. A jet of orange light left the D-3 and struck Agumon.

"Agumon warp digivolve to… WarGreymon!"

"Not what you expected, eh Spacemon?" Centarumon groaned as he got to his feet.

"Silence!" Spacemon spat. "You shall all perish!"

"Yeah? Well you can eat my Horn Blaster!"

MegaKabuterimon broke though the wall, a blast of orangey, yellow electricity spouting from the forked trident at the end of his horn. The attack stuck Spacemon in the chest.

Spacemon was unaffected by the attack and MegaKabuterimon failed to twist out of the way. Spacemon's hand lashed out and grabbed MegaKabuterimon's horn. He swung the insect digimon upwards towards the ceiling. The roof cracked apart, and MegaKabuterimon flew out of the gap created.

Spacemon bent his knees and launched himself upwards, jets of rocket fire leaving his feet. He flew through the gap and out of sight.

"Where's MegaKabuterimon?" Izzy yelled as he reached the small group.

"Spacemon's probably using him as a punch bag," Tai muttered.

"I think he might have felt a little cramped in here," Sora mumbled.

"Lets go then," Matt, said looking up. He leapt up onto MetalGarurumon's back, and the mechanical wolf launched himself into the air. WarGreymon picked Tai up and slung his on his shoulder, before following MetalGarurumon.

The sudden light dazzled Tai for a second. He raised an arm to block out the sun. He lowered it after a few seconds. MetalGarurumon and MegaKabuterimon were flying towards them, Matt hanging on for dear life.

WarGreymon dived out of the way, to be met by a fist in the face by Spacemon. WarGreymon flipped end over end, Tai gripping his neck as hard as he could. WarGreymon righted himself and dodged out of the way of another punch from Spacemon.

"Terror Force!" he roared. He threw a sphere of fiery energy at Spacemon. Spacemon swung a kick threw the attack.

WarGreymon soared through the fire and struck Spacemon in the chest. Spacemon flew backwards through the air. He pointed his feet away from WarGreymon, and stretched himself into an arrow shape and raised his fist.

"Martian Fist!" Spacemon bellowed. His fist glowed red for a moment before impact with WarGreymon. WarGreymon spiralled away, just as MetalGarurumon and MegaKabuterimon rejoined the battle.

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"Horn Blaster!"

Electricity and icy energy joined in mid air and blasted Spacemon in the foot. The rocket fire produced from it spluttered and died. Spacemon stumbled in the air and WarGreymon attacked.

"Mega Claw!" WarGreymon yelled. He slammed a fist down on Spacemon's head. Spacemon careened down into the neighbouring forest around the labyrinth.

The resultant crater sent rocks and earth flying in ever direction. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon dived after him and prepared to attack.

"Terror Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

The combined attacks collided with Spacemon and sent bits of metal and gears flying in every direction. Tai sighed. Spacemon had been a formidable opponent, but now he was gone.

MegaKabuterimon flew up to them, Izzy and the rest of digidestined riding on his shoulder. Centarumon was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Centarumon?" Tai asked.

"He needs to sort out the temple," Izzy explained.

"So what do we do now?" Matt asked looking slightly windswept.

"Land," Sora suggested.

Tai nodded. The group of teenagers and their digimon partners landed on the ground. But unbeknownst to them, a gear rolled across the ground in the forest. This gear was followed by a piece of metal followed it into the centre of the crater. Pistons and screws, bits of metal, gears and chips reassembled themselves. Within a minute, Spacemon was standing in the crater again.

"That stung," he sniggered. "Never underestimate the powers of a _master_ level digimon."

To be continued...


	3. The Birth of MagmaGreymon

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Three: The Birth of MagmaGreymon

Infinity Mountain, File Island

Spacemon ascended the mountain slope. He didn't need to walk he knew, but walking left The Shadow plenty of time to think of an excuse for his failure to capture all twelve digidestined. If that tall winged freak of digital nature didn't have someone or something to blame, well, it wouldn't be his freakiness' best day.

He finally reached the mountain plateaux, the dark temple stretching before him. He snorted. The Shadow was the only one of the New Dark Leaders who had not updated his base. All of the Dark Leaders had become more technological. Except The Shadow.

He strode across the plateaux, stepping up from brown stone, to black marble. The stone pillars stretched high above him. The only source of light came from the blue fire's that hung in the wall brackets.

The throne room opened up around him. A hundred Goblinmon, ten Phantomon and five hundred Bakumon hung around the evil digimon in the black obsidian throne. His four blue eyes glared at Spacemon, his arachnid fangs dripping venom.

"Spacemon," he hissed, his forked tongue flicked out under his teeth.

"Shade," Spacemon said grinning.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" The Shadow thundered, "My name is The Shadow!"

Spacemon's eyes narrowed. The Shadow may be the master of File Island, but he was the lord of the Viral Realms. He was The Shadow's superior.

"Do I have to remind you," Spacemon said evenly. "Who you are talking to?"

The Shadow scowled but mumbled darkly, "No lord."

"That's better," Spacemon chuckled. "Now who do I have to blame for the failure of your mission?"

"Well," The Shadow smiled. "Those three idiots."

He pointed one skeletal finger at three Phantomon who were huddled in a group. They quailed as Spacemon turned his attention to them. The lead Phantomon floated forward and whimpered.

"Well?" Spacemon said. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

The Phantomon shivered and whispered, "We are sorry."

Spacemon's eyes narrowed. His knotted hand lashed out and gripped the Phantomon's neck. The digimon screamed as Spacemon squeezed tighter. The digimon fragmented into data in his crushing death grip.

"Wrong answer," Spacemon smiled. He looked over at The Shadow and paused. "In truth I should destroy you, but our master has given me orders not to. Instead he has given these orders to me. I shall remove all of my forces from File Island and let you destroy the digidestined on your own. If you cannot accomplish this within two weeks, I have orders to remove you of your forces, your powers and of your digivolution."

"What!" The Shadow spluttered. "Remove me of my digivolution. But then-"

"You'll be a Champion again," Spacemon finished. "And at the mercy of the digidestined. Personally I don't think you even deserve to be an Ultimate, let alone a Super Ultimate"

The Shadow rose from his throne and spoke in a voice that radiated dark power, "Don't you worry Spacemon. You take your forces. I will delete the digidestined, without yours or any other of the Dark Leader's assistance!"

"Uh-huh," Spacemon nodded. "Hope that works out for you."

And with that, Spacemon turned on his heel, and stalked out.

Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral realms

The army before The Lord of Darkness stretched out below him. He snorted. Spacemon may believe that machine digimon held the most power, but he knew that only cyborg digimon prevailed in the end.

A blue digimon flew up to the balcony on flaming blue wings. There were yellow stripes on his arms, legs and chest. His right arm was a strange metal lance. He looked at Darkness and bowed. Darkness waved his hand and snorted.

"Please. Spare me the grovelling Darkdramon. Is the army prepared?"

"It is my lord. The commanders are coming now."

On cue, three more cyborg digimon walked up from the stairs. The lead digimon was tall and black. His right shoulder was blue, whereas his left was red. HiAndromon.

The second commander of the army had no legs. He had a sphere of energy where his skeletal spine ended. From his spin, his ribcage protected a red orb where his heart should have been. Where his shoulders ended, steams of energy connected them to his hands. A long, black, flowing cape was draped around his shoulders and a black hood was peeked over his head. In his hands was a scythe, with pinkish energy for the blade. MetalPhantomon.

The final digimon was green and tall. A strange arch came out from his shoulders. His shoulders themselves were black circular saw blades. His arms were long metal blocks, which produced red energy blades. Fujinmon.

The four great commanders of Darkness' army. Darkness sniggered. 'Those digidestined brats won't know which way is up when I'm through with them,' he thought to himself.

Fujinmon looked at MetalPhantomon and chuckled. The caped digimon looked at the taller green commander and raised his scythe slightly.

"What?" he asked, his voice metallic and scraping.

"Nothing," Fujinmon replied. "It's just I don't think an Ultimate like you should ever have been made a commander. Megas rule fair and square."

Darkness coughed slightly.

"I mean Super Ultimates and above," Fujinmon hastily corrected.

"That's better," Darkness said grinning. "HiAndromon."

"Sir," the metal giant said, snapping to attention.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Darkdramon moaned. "Who knows what it'll do to your joints."

"Shut it," Darkness snarled. "HiAndromon, you're forces are all in place I take it?"

"Yes sir. All fifteen thousand nine hundred and forty-five Andromon are in place with at least ninety-nine ZeedGarurumon and fifty MetalMamemon. All awaiting your orders sir."

"What about you Fujinmon?"

"All fifty thousand JumboGamemon are prepared for battle my lord."

"MetalPhantomon."

"Nine thousand Justimon, ten thousand Eaglemon and four hundred Elaphantmon are set and ready to go master."

Darkdramon smiled as Darkness finally turned to him and said, "Well my friend what have you got for me?"

"As I always say my lord, numbers outmatch strength any day. One hundred thousand RizeGreymon are locked and loaded."

Darkness smiled. He looked down at the army below him. Over one hundred thousand cyborg digimon were waiting to crush the digital world beneath their feet. And along the way, the digidestined.

Native forest, File Island

The Star of Destiny glowed faintly as Tai flipped it over in his hand. The fire in front of him crackled, glowing sparks and embers floating around him. The last few remnants of a dinner comprised mainly of fish that they had caught earlier that afternoon, were being attacked by small flies.

Tai threw a stick on the fire, causing it to rise just a little higher. Agumon was curled up at his side, snoring in a deep sleep. Tai looked at his watch. The time was 22:37. He sighed. Just over twenty minutes till his relief.

He glanced behind him, and saw his friends lying in small huddles, deep in sleep. Sora and Matt were lying next to each other, Sora's head resting on Matt's chest. Tai growled slightly, and looked back at the fire. There were times where Tai and Matt worked like clockwork. But lately Tai's feelings towards Matt were becoming colder and colder.

Tai stood up and began to pace. Pacing calmed Tai down when he had feelings in his head like that. He began to think of the strange dreams he had been having. The darkness that dealt him pain. What was all that about? Why were his friends stuck like flies in a web to a rock face? What digimon could have that sort of power?

"And then there's this," Tai muttered aloud, looking at the Star of Destiny in his hands. Centarumon had come to there camp after an hour or so to describe some of the powers of the star. He had described it as a curse as well as a blessing. Why? If what Centarumon had said about the star was true, how could it be a curse?

A rumbling sound broke into Tai's revere. It sounded like and earthquake. Agumon leapt to his feet, looking around so fast his head was just a blur.

"What's happening? Are we under attack?"

"I don't know," Tai murmured. He sprinted through the trees to the source of the noise. He stopped as he saw a road had been cut out of the trees, and marching along it…

"You have _soooo_ got to be kidding me," Tai whispered.

An entire army was marching its way down to the coast, set in ranks, files and squads. Mekanorimon, Guardromon, Tankmon and a whole rank of digimon Tai had never seen before. They were red, tall and had a strange drill and claw for a left hand.

"Chaosdramon," Agumon whispered. "Mega level, machine type digimon. Special attacks Destroyed Hook, Chaos Crusher and Hyper ∞ Cannon. They're some of the toughest and meanest digimon out there."

Two shadows passed over Tai and Agumon from above. Tai crouched down and looked up. Megadramon and Gigadramon were flying overhead surrounded by smaller flying digimon. These were pointed at the front and seemed to be shaped like missiles.

"Missimon," Agumon explained. "Rookies. More machine types. Those guys are idiots."

"Are these all the forces from File Island?" Tai asked looking slightly impressed. Agumon shook his head.

"These are just the forces from the labyrinth. I expect they're leaving 'cause their leader got his butt handed to him."

Tai nodded but stayed silent. Spacemon had been defeated, and yet Tai couldn't help worrying about him. He was beaten too easily for a digimon that powerful. Agumon looked at him, concerned.

As Agumon opened his mouth to speak, a thundering roar, much louder than that of the marching army sounded. Agumon whipped his head around and gasped. Ten enormous digimon were rolling across the cut down stumps of the trees like they were pebbles. They appeared much like Tankmon, except these were blue and had a lot more weaponry.

"Tankdramon," Agumon whispered. "Ultimate level, more machines, special attacks Striver Cannon and Gatling Blast. I didn't know those guys were in there."

The roar sounded again, but it was not coming from the immense Tankdramon. It was coming from a metallic, golden lion with a spiked ball at the end of his tail.

"That guy looks like SaberLeomon," Tai muttered.

"LoaderLiomon. We need to go."

"Why?"

"That guy could smell us out from a mile away. We have to go!"

As if to prove Agumon's point LoaderLiomon stiffened. It's robotic lions head turned to look straight at Tai and Agumon. His metallic lips curled upward in a smile.

"Run," Agumon said.

Tai and his digimon partner bolted back towards the others. LoaderLiomon roared again, a hint of glee in his voice. There was the sound of caterpillar tracks doing overtime and then the sound of trees collapsing. The Tankdramon had joined the hunt.

Tai crashed into the clearing, and saw the others awake and looking around the clearing. Kari spotted him first and put her hands on her hips in a very motherly manner, as if she was about to ground him.

"And where have you two been?" she asked.

"No time for that," Tai panted. "We just saw Spacemon's forces leaving and we might have attracted, some uh, unwanted attention."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked raising and eyebrow.

"LoaderLiomon," Agumon explained. "And a few Tankdramon."

"What!" Tentomon, Izzy and Gatomon exclaimed in astonishment.

"Tankdramon!" Tentomon continued. "What did you do to get their attention?"

"LoaderLiomon smelled us out," Tai muttered.

"No wonder you could do with a shower," Matt muttered. Tai eyes flickered over to him. Matt took a step back as he saw them. There was an anger there that he had never seen before. Then Tai blinked, and the moment was gone.

"We have to get moving," Tai said quickly, in charge right off the bat. "Grab anything we need and can take with us in a hurry. The other stuff we can come back for later."

Matt nodded, the image of that rage in Tai's eyes imprinted in his mind. The team began grabbing stuff from all over the camp, but as Tai reached for his rucksack, he heard a metal growl. He looked up and LoaderLiomon's golden eyes flashed at him.

"Here kitty kitty," Tai muttered. He leapt back just in time.

"Loader Morning Star!" the lion roared, the spiked ball at the end of his tail flying through the air, missing Tai by millimetres.

"Whoa," was all Tai could say.

"Gabumon warp digivolve to… MetalGarurumon!"

The iron wolf met the steel lion head on. LoaderLiomon howled in pain as MetalGarurumon grappled with him. Then three voices spoke at once.

"Striver Cannon!" the Tankdramon roared. The three attacks merged together and sent the Mega digimon flying through the air, spiralling slightly. He crashed into a tree on the opposite side of the clearing, it's trunk snapping in two from the impact. The Tankdramon moved in closer, breaking more trees down on the way.

"Boring Storm!" LoaderLiomon roared. His mane span wildly as he leapt towards the fallen MetalGarurumon. The wolf digimon looked up and rolled out of the way. LoaderLiomon crashed into the tree behind MetalGarurumon, and bored a hole straight through it. MetalGarurumon turned around and was about to strike at LoaderLiomon while his head was still stuck in the tree, but the Tankdramon beat him to it.

"Gatling Blast!" they roared. The machine guns fixed to their side stuttered into life. Bullets flew from the barrels of each gun and hit MetalGarurumon side on. The Mega level roared in pain before crumpling to the ground. Even he couldn't handle four Ultimates on his own.

"Agumon!" Tai yelled. The Rookie digimon nodded and ran to his human partner. He began to glow as soon as he reached Tai.

"Agumon warp digivolve to… WarGreymon!"

The orange digimon launched himself at one of the Tankdramon and struck a blow into his face. The Tankdramon grimaced in pain but stayed standing. WarGreymon gripped the hand he had hit Tankdramon with. It stung, as if it was on fire.

"Something's up with those Tankdramon," he muttered. He turned around and straightened himself out. He began to spin like a top. Faster and faster he span until he pointed himself at Tankdramon. "Great Tornado!"

He flew like an arrow at the Tankdramon. They shot more attacks at WarGreymon, but they bounced harmlessly off his armour. One Tankdramon made the mistake of opening his mouth to roar. WarGreymon passed straight down his throat and came out of his back. The machine digimon coughed slightly, before dissipating into particles of data.

Spacemon was floating above the fight, stroking his chin. He looked as the fight raged on below him. He looked at MetalGarurumon. The mechanical wolf glowed before dedigivolving back into Gabumon.

Spacemon looked back at WarGreymon, as he threw a Terror Force attack at LoaderLiomon. The attack struck the digimon and he dissolved into fragments of data as well.

"Well there won't be much left of my army at this rate," he muttered. "Time I took matters into my own hand."

WarGreymon dodged out of the way of a Tankdramon's Striver Cannon and delivered a crushing blow to his mid drift. The digimon toppled backwards and onto his back. He started thrashing his arms around like a turtle. WarGreymon was about to attack, when a booming voice sounded from overhead.

"All forces withdraw to the Blimpmon! Oh and someone pick up that idiot fighting WarGreymon!"

Gigadramon dropped down and clutched Tankdramon from under the armpits and took off again. WarGreymon looked up, as something black dropped from the skies. Dust and earth flew everywhere. When it settled, Spacemon stood before them stretching his neck.

"What the…" WarGreymon muttered.

"Surprise, surprise," Spacemon sneered. "Didn't think you'd see me again did you?"

"But his data?" Izzy muttered. Spacemon tilted his head to face him.

"My body was destroyed, but being a Master level digimon I could reassemble myself."

"What?" WarGreymon whispered in disbelief.

"Master level. A level far superior to you pathetic Mega level."

WarGreymon growled and launched himself at Spacemon. The black digimon just smiled. He twisted out of the way and elbowed WarGreymon in the face. The warrior digimon was thrown backwards into a tree. Spacemon stood above him and raised his let hand. Then WarGreymon leapt forward, his arms drawn back.

"Mega Claw!" the warrior digimon yelled. He slashed across Spacemon's chest. Spacemon made no reaction to the attack. WarGreymon groaned and clutched his hand. The pain he had felt when he had struck the Tankdramon was back again only a thousand times worse. Spacemon sniggered.

"A perk of my home," he sniggered. He raised his fist and threw a punch. WarGreymon crashed into a tree and collapsed into a heap. "Say goodnight."

He raised his fist again ready to strike. Then, just as the black digimon was about to strike, Tai rushed out in front of his digimon partner. Spacemon paused.

"You want WarGreymon!" Tai yelled. "Then you'll have to go through me first!"

Spacemon stroked his chin for a second before replying, "Interesting proposal. I think I'll take it."

He lunged forward. Tai tensed, ready for the attack. He heard someone scream something but he did didn't hear it. Then, as Spacemon was about to strike, WarGreymon defended Tai. There was some newfound strength in him that made him strong enough to go another round with Spacemon.

"You shouldn't have this kind of power!" Spacemon yelled as WarGreymon grappled with him. The Tai's crest, D-3 and WarGreymon began to glow. WarGreymon threw Spacemon away just as the light became blinding.

"WarGreymon digivolve to… MagmaGreymon!"

Spacemon took a step back as his new opponent came into view. MagmaGreymon was similar to WarGreymon, with several differences. MagmaGreymon was slightly hunched over and the wings on his back were huge, leathery, black and bat-like. His skin was made of molten lava and his battle armour was made volcanic rock. He had the crest of courage emblazoned upon the left forearm part of his armour in crystal. A blazing tail beat the ground behind him.

"Well," Spacemon said grinning. "This might well be a challenge."

He lunged at MagmaGreymon, but he just smiled and leapt into the air, beating his wings once to give him extra momentum. He soared into the air, high above Spacemon. He raised one hand above his head, and a huge sphere of fire appeared there.

"Blazing Nova!" he roared. He threw the sphere at Spacemon. Spacemon snarled and launched himself at the attack, drawing his fist back to strike.

"Martian Fist!" he bellowed. He punched MagmaGreymon's attack and it dissipated. Spacemon was hurled backwards and MagmaGreymon came down for another shot.

"Crystalline Fury!" he roared. The forearm parts of his armour turned to crystal. MagmaGreymon began hitting Spacemon again and again. The tall black digimon roared and pushed MagmaGreymon away.

"I've been taking it easy on you newbie," he snarled. "But no more. Now you die!"

He raised his left arm into the air and it retracted into is shoulder. A new arm emerged. This one ended in a lethal looking cannon. Spacemon lowered this arm to point at MagmaGreymon.

"Say goodnight newbie," he snarled. "Dark Matter Destroyer!"

A bullet of what looked like rippling air was shot at MagmaGreymon. The warrior digimon dived out of the way and the attack carved a path through to the other side of the forest, deleting everything it touched. MagmaGreymon didn't spend time looking at Spacemon's handiwork. He leapt into the air and raised both arms above his head. A huge sphere of blue molten magma appeared there.

"This is from me to you!" MagmaGreymon yelled. "Hell-Fire Eruption!"

He threw the attack at Spacemon, who laughed and pointed his cannon arm upwards.

"Dark Matter Destroyer!" he roared. But noting happened. He looked at his arm, and saw a small red bar flashing there. The bar read 'Recharging'.

"Ah crap," Spacemon muttered. The attack exploded on contact with Spacemon. The explosion was so huge that it rocked the ground beneath Tai's feet.

When the dust settled, Spacemon was still standing, though his armour was scorched and he seamed slightly put down.

"You lucked out this time newbie," he snarled. He launched himself into the air and flew backwards towards the other side of the island. For a moment MagmaGreymon seemed to go after them. The he was enveloped in golden light and he dedigivolved back into Koromon.

"Koromon!" Tai yelled rushing to his partner's side. "You okay buddy?"

"Yeah," Koromon replied. "Just exhausted. That new digivolution took a lot out of me."

Izzy was bending over something on the ground. He knelt down and looked at it for a couple of seconds before straightening up.

"This is a piece of Spacemon's armour," he exclaimed. He bent over to pick it up but Koromon piped up from Tai's arms.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," he said.

"Why?" Izzy said looking at him.

"Something's is up with Spacemon's armour. It sort of burned every time I touched it."

Izzy grabbed a piece of cloth from his bag and wrapped it around the armour piece. He brought it over to the fire and dropped it to the ground. Tentomon looked at it and nodded.

"I recognise this metal," he said.

"Really?" Izzy asked incredulously.

"It's Nightshade Digizoide," Tentomon elaborated.

"I'm sure you mean Chrome Digizoide," Izzy corrected. Tentomon shook his head.

"Chrome Digizoide can be merged with other metal to create Digizoide alloys. Nightshade Digizoide can only be found in the Viral Realms."

Tai looked at the armour. Then he looked at where Spacemon had been flying. Matt spoke up.

"So is that where we're going?"

Tai shook his head and replied, "We have to help the digimon of File Island first."

The digidestined all nodded. They began to gather their things, as unknown to them; Devidramon flew back to his master.

To be continued…


	4. The Peonix and the Machine

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Four: The Phoenix and the Machine

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

Devidramon flew up to the temple and landed in front of it. His four, blood red eyes stared into the gloom. A figure walked out to meet him. He had baggy, brownish shorts on, with yellow flames at the ends, as was he jacket. Strapped to his side were two matchstick like wands and on his head was a ragged hat. His mouth was stitches on his purple face and his blue hair was combed to the right. FlameWizardmon. He raised his hand and balls of fire appeared above each of his fingers.

"So," he said, beginning to juggle the fireballs. "What have the digidestined been up to?"

"They have been assaulted by Spacemon and his army," Devidramon explained. FlameWizardmon dropped the fireballs. They hit the floor and extinguished themselves.

"What?"

"And to make matters worse, WarGreymon has digivolved to the Master level."

FlameWizardmon bit his lip and pulled a matchstick wand from his belt and began twirling it in his hands. The faster he twirled the wand the more it began to smoke. He finally spoke, just as he wand caught fire.

"The Shadow will not be pleased when he hears this," he concluded.

"When I hear what?" a cold voice from behind him asked.

FlameWizardmon spun on the spot and looked up. The Shadow loomed above him, his toes just brushing the edge of the shadows that his temple cast. His arachnid fangs dripped venom onto the floor, where it sizzled and bubbled.

"Well FlameWizardmon," The Shadow growled. "What don't I know?"

"The digidestined well," FlameWizardmon began. Then he blurted out, "WarGreymon has digivolved to he Master level."

The Shadow glowered at him. He pondered this information. He could not leave is temple until his power had reached it's maximum. He pointed at Devidramon, who instinctively flinched.

"Devidramon," he snapped. "Fetch Arkadimon. Tell him he has a job to do."

Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

Spacemon was sat in a chair, looking at his left arm sullenly. Darkness was standing at the laboratory, fiddling with something small. A walkie-talkie beside him crackled and he picked it up.

"Hello," he sighed. H listened to the person on the other end of the line before replying, "Well when he tells you to do something do it… What do you mean favouritism…? Who do you think I am your mom…? I shall forgive but not forget that."

He put the walkie-talkie down and growled. He looked over at Spacemon.

"Problem?"

"It's this arm," Spacemon replied sourly. "If this arm had a longer battery life, I would have beaten the digidestined by now."

Darkness looked at the item he had been working with and growled. He picked it up and threw it across the room. It struck the wall with such force, that the wall cracked under the impact. The device fell to the floor in bent and broken pieces.

"If I could just get that thing working you'd have all the power in the digital world," he growled.

"You're still working on that thing?" Spacemon groaned.

"If you mean Project Ranger then yes I am," Darkness snarled. "The problem is finding how to configure it to a digimon's digital infrastructure."

"Why not just use an X-digimon?"

The spanner hit Spacemon in the eye with perfect accuracy.

"Idiot," Darkness snarled. "An X-digimon's data is twice, if not three times more complicated then an ordinary digimon's. That means it would be three times as hard to get it right!"

"What about a human?"

Darkness reached for a glass beaker full of a pale green liquid, then stopped. He thought about what Spacemon had just said.

"A human. Less attributes, no levels. Pass me that footage you have of the digidestined."

Spacemon passed it to him. Darkness selected 'Emotional Data Scan'. He looked at it and smiled.

"Perfect."

Freezeland, File Island

Arkadimon was feasting upon the data of an unconscious Frigimon when Devidramon found him. The unconscious digimon was losing data fast to the great opponent before him. At last all of his data was absorbed into Arkadimon. He smacked his lips and belched slightly.

"Delicious data," he whispered, his voice soft, smooth and deep. "I only wish there was more of it. Maybe I should have yours as well Devidramon."

Devidramon stepped back and raised an arm before replying, "You are bound by our master to serve him and to leave his servants _off _the menu." Arkadimon snarled.

"What is it he wants of me?"

"I believe you have once encountered the digidestined?"

Arkadimon stiffened. Yes he had encountered the digidestined, in the rising of the Dark One. They had bound him in the centre of the digital world where he could not harm any more innocent digimon.

"I take from your silence that you have," Devidramon growled.

"Yes."

"How would you like revenge?"

"Of course I would. Where are they?"

"Last I checked they were heading to Fileville."

"This is perfect," Arkadimon said to himself. "A digidestined's data would be more filling than any digimon's, and I am_ sooo_ hungry. It might even help me digivolve"

He looked around him at the frozen ground, the icy trees and deep snow. He thought of the digimon who inhabited this area.

"I think I've had enough of Freezeland and it's frozen food. How many of the digidestined's digimon have digivolve to Master?"

"One."

"Mega?"

"One."

"Ultimate?"

"Six."

"Champion?"

"Four."

Arkadimon rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. His eyes gleamed. He spread his purple wings apart and began to take off.

"I shall destroy the digidestined!" he roared. And with those words he set off towards Fileville.

Native Forest, File Island

Tai rolled over in his sleep. Matt glanced back at him. There was a playful smile on his face. He seemed the same as always, but Matt couldn't shake off that memory of the anger in Tai's eyes. Matt could put two and two together and tell that Tai's anger would make him do something rash. And that could put them all in trouble.

Tai's eyes opened and he sat bolt upright. Matt looked at him and frowned. In the few minutes he had been looking away from Tai he had become drenched in cold sweat. His skin was pale and his pupils were little more than specks.

"Sleep well?" Matt asked sarcastically. Tai shook his head and glared at Matt.

"No not really."

"What was your dream about?"

Tai shook his head trying to remember.

"I think I was at your New Years Eve gig," Tai muttered. "And these digimon crashed the party just like last year."

"Great," Matt chuckled. "My gig's get crashed two years in a row."

Tai smiled and said, "It was only a dream."

"Yeah a dream," Agumon mumbled sleepily. "Except your dreams haven't been normal lately have they?"

Tai punched him on the head. Agumon grunted but otherwise didn't seem to bother.

"What does he mean by that?" Matt asked concerned.

"Nothing," Tai snipped.

"Okay. Just wanted to know," Matt said defensively. Sora rolled over nearly squashing Biyomon, who squawked awake in protest.

"Ow!" Biyomon squawked. Sora jolted awake and looked at Biyomon before sitting up.

"Sorry Biyo," Sora said stretching. Biyomon's squawk slowly awakened the entire camp.

"Urgh, what time is it?" Davis grumbled. Izzy snorted awake and glanced at his watch.

"Err, 7:40," he sighed.

"Great," Tentomon chirped. "Plenty of time to get to Fileville before the people start waking up."

"Why do we have to get to Fileville before people wake up?" Cody asked groggily. Armadillomon rolled his eyes.

"If a digimon sees you there they will pester you for an autograph or something like that," he explained. "You're that popular."

"We are?" Kari asked, surprised.

"Well you are the digidestined," Gatomon sniggered.

"I kind of like the sound of signing autographs," Davis muttered. Matt rolled his eyes.

"It's not really that glamorous," he muttered. "I mean your writing hand gets cramp after signing at least a thousand autographs. And at least a tenth of that coming from your girlfriend."

Sora blushed and tittered a little. Tai clenched his jaw, but said nothing. Davis opened his mouth to complain about what Matt had said, but decided not to.

"Lets get moving," Tai snarled.

He set off. Sora gave Matt a 'what's his problem?' look. Matt shrugged and followed Tai, the others keeping close pace behind. Tai strode ahead, his mind whirring.

'Spacemon has that whole army,' he thought to himself. 'And he's probably only the right-hand-man or something. The real leader is going to be much tougher to beat.'

"Hey!" Matt yelled. Tai looked back, and saw that he had left his team thirty yards away. "Are you trying to lose us or something?"

"Sorry," Tai yelled back. "Just, thinking."

"Tai look out!" Kari screamed. Tai dived sideways just as the digimon lunged.

"Exile Spear!" roared Arkadimon. Tai just managed to skim past the attack and out of harms way. Arkadimon straightened up and looked at him.

"That was your warning shot," he muttered. "And I know it was a little close, but if you died it would be a warning shot to the others."

"Uh Izzy who is this guy?" Tai yelled. Izzy began frantically typing on his laptop for a few seconds.

"Arkadimon," he whispered. "Mega level, special attacks Exile Spear and Dot Matrix. This guys so strong he could take on an army of Mega levels as a warm up!"

"Well I wouldn't say _a_ army," Arkadimon sniggered. "More like two."

"Yeah well I'm not afraid of you!" yelled Tai. "Agumon!"

He raised his D-3 to his digimon partner.

"Agumon, Ex Warp Digivolve to… MagmaGreymon!"

MagmaGreymon faced Arkadimon, determination in his eyes. Arkadimon chuckled.

"You actually believe you can challenge me, puny digimon?" he sniggered. "I am the most powerful digimon on the face of the entire digital world! Well apart from my leader."

"You mean Spacemon's boss," Sora muttered. Arkadimon shook his head.

"Spacemon and his puny boss could barely even touch my leader," he snarled. "I was his most superior general! Until the digidestined came along."

"What does that mean?" Davis yelled. Arkadimon's face was murderous.

"That is of my concern!" he roared. "Dot Matrix!"

He pointed a finger at MagmaGreymon and a beam of black energy, lined with binary code, was fired at MagmaGreymon. MagmaGreymon barely missed the attack. It flew through the trees and dissipated. Then everything that had been touched by the attack reverted to simple data, and flew towards Arkadimon.

"Ah delicious data," he soothed. "My hunger grew and grew in my imprisonment, now it is being filled."

"Oh shut up," snarled MagmaGreymon. He raised an arm into the air. "Blazing Nova!"

The flaming attack soared towards Arkadimon. He sniggered, and drew back his arm.

"Exile Spear!"

The pointed attack impaled the flaming sphere and destroyed it.

"No way," Tai gasped. "He can't be that strong. Can he?"

"Well I think I've seen enough," Matt smiled. "Lets go Gabumon."

He raised his digivice and a blue aura enveloped Gabumon.

"Gabumon warp digivolve to… MetalGarurumon!"

"Oh good more fresh meat," cackled Arkadimon.

"You won't be laughing when I'm through with you! Metal Wolf Claw!"

The attack hit Arkadimon square in the chest. Sora cheered, but as the dust settled, Arkadimon laughed.

"More!" he cackled insanely. "Give me more! Your attacks are nothing but insect bites to me!"

"Crystalline Fury!" MagmaGreymon came at Arkadimon's unprotected back and struck. Arkadimon bellowed, more from rage than pain.

"How dare you! A digimon who prides himself on courage, stabbing me in the _back_! I will crush you!"

Arkadimon whipped around and punched MagmaGreymon in the face. The Master digimon howled in agony and crumpled. Arkadimon turned his attention on Tai.

"Now it's your turn!" he hollered. "Exile Spear!"

"Tai!" He barely heard the cries from his fellow digidestined.

As Arkadimon lunged at Tai, Matt and Sora's digivice began to glow.

"MetalGarurumon digivolve to…!"

"Biyomon warp digivolve to…!"

"CyberGarurumon!"

"Hououmon!"

CyberGarurumon resembled WereGarurumon, however the digivolved form was half coated in Chrome Digizoide armour. Half of his face was a metallic helmet and on one arm was a lethal looking blaster. On his back was a pair of metal wings and a metal jet pack.

Hououmon looked like Birdramon, however her feathers were golden, and her talons black and there was a gold metal helmet upon her face.

"Alliance Laser!" roared CyberGarurumon.

"Crimson Flame!" screeched Hououmon.

The two attacks knocked Arkadimon of course and smashed into a tree. He roared and got to his feet.

"If you think I'm done you're sadly mistaken! Arkadimon Mega digivolve to…!"

"He's digivolving," Davis yelled. "How?"

"He must have enough data to do it on his own," Izzy theorised.

"Arkadimon Super Ultimate!"

"Oh great now we're in trouble," Tai muttered. Arkadimon was taller now. His armour was a dark blue and his arms and legs masses of black vapour. A mass of tentacles sprouted from his back, and squirmed as if they had a mind of their own.

"If you thought I was tough before you haven't seen anything yet!" he roared. "Distopia Lance!"

The writhing mass of tentacles stiffened and launched themselves at different targets. Two pierced MagmaGreymon in the chest. Another two struck CyberGarurumon in the face. Hououmon was blasted by three in her left wing and was thrown from the skies.

"Now do you see?" chuckled Arkadimon. "If you cannot defeat me, how do expect to defeat the likes of the Dark One?"

"Just who is this Dark One?" Izzy murmured.

"That is none of your concern!" snapped Arkadimon. "God Matrix!"

A huge blast of energy launched itself from Arkadimon's chest. Tai and Matt threw themselves to the ground just in time. The attack soared over their heads and destroyed everything in its path, reverting it to data, which then flowed into Arkadimon.

"So much data!" he roared. "I could just absorb it all! No one could stop me!"

"He's gone mad," muttered MagmaGreymon.

"We have to stop him," growled CyberGarurumon.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

"We have to stop him!" snapped The Shadow. "I won't have a kingdom left otherwise!"

"How can we when even the other digidestined could not?" asked FlameWizardmon incredulously.

"I don't know," The Shadow said calmly. "We have to think of something, fast."

"We may not have to my lord," said Devidramon. "Look."

Native Forest, File Island

Arkadimon lunged at MagmaGreymon, who dodged aside. Arkadimon flew straight past him and smacked face first into a tree. CyberGarurumon and Hououmon chased up behind him and attacked.

"Comrade Missile!" roared CyberGarurumon.

"Star-Light Explosion!" bellowed Hououmon.

A string of missile launchers opened up all over CyberGarurumon's body and fired, as a stream of golden drops fell from Hououmon's wings. The combined attacks blossomed into an enormous explosion upon contact with Arkadimon. MagmaGreymon beat his wings and took to the air.

"Hell-Fire Eruption!" roared MagmaGreymon throwing the sphere of blue lava at the already huge firestorm. The combined attack force turned the flame blue and it rose to even greater heights and intensity.

The fire burnt the remaining trees around the battle zone and began to fade. MagmaGreymon descended down to earth and rubbed his hands at the edge of the fire.

"Ah a nice warm fire," he chuckled.

"I don't see how you can stand that flame," muttered CyberGarurumon. "It's over thirty thousand degrees!"

"Yeah," smirked MagmaGreymon. "And I'm a magma based digimon."

And then Arkadimon lunged from the fire, madness in his eyes, fire burning across his armour. He threw a smoking fist at MagmaGreymon, knocking him flat on his back.

"YOU DARE TO ATTACK ME!" he thundered. "I SHALL DESTROY YOU ALL!"

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

"Right," The Shadow coughed. "I believe that is enough."

"What do you mean my lord?" questioned FlameWizardmon.

"I should never have sent Arkadimon. Now I shall destroy him."

The Shadow unclasped his arms from off his shoulder and reached out forward with them, palms face down.

"Black Decimation!" The Shadow roared. A huge orb of flickering shadows appeared underneath his hands. He flicked his hands upwards and the sphere flew towards the Native Forest.

Native Forest, File Island

Arkadimon slammed CyberGarurumon face first into a thick oak tree. The Chrome Digizoide helmet crumpled under the impact. Arkadimon cackled insanely and soared into the air where he attacked Hououmon.

"Distopia Lance!" he bellowed. The tentacles struck her in the face. She screeched in pain and dropped to the ground where she glowed and dedigivolved.

"You will all be deleated-argh!" As Arkadimon finished his sentence, a sphere of darkness blasted him in the back. "What was… that?"

Arkadimon crumpled to the floor and his data began evaporating. He sighed as it all floated apart, leaving nothing behind.

"Lets hope he's not reborn at Primary Village," snarled CyberGarurumon. A light enveloped both him and MagmaGreymon, as they dedigivolved back to Agumon and Gabumon.

"A digimon that strong," muttered Izzy. "And he wasn't even at the Master level."

"I've heard some legends about Arkadimon," Tentomon said. "He feeds of the data and power of the digimon he defeats. That's why he's so strong."

"So he's destroyed countless digimon, that's horrible," Sora muttered.

"Well he's gone now," Biyomon groaned, as she got to her feet. Tai looked up at Infinity Mountain.

"What's wrong Tai?" Kari asked.

"It's that attack that destroyed Arkadimon," Tai replied. "It came from way up there."

"You think someone helped us?" Matt asked.

"I don't think it's that simple Matt," Tai murmured shaking his head. "This island is in control of an evil digimon. So what if that was his doing?"

"You think whoever controls the island destroyed Arkadimon?" T.K. asked.

"It makes sense," Izzy muttered. "I mean, if Arkadimon was sent to destroy us, and he lost control, it makes sense that whoever's in charge here would want to stop Arkadimon while he still has a place to rule."

Tai nodded. 'So just who are you?' he thought to himself. T.K. frowned. Was it his imagination, or could he hear laughter coming from Infinity Mountain?

To be continued…


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Five: The Calm Before the Storm

The Lair of the Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

The Shadow was sat in his obsidian throne. His skeletal fingers were wrapped around a thick black disk with a serrated edge. A black gear. He chuckled before tossing the thing aside, where it clattered on the marble floor.

"Child's play now," he muttered. "I can't believe I use to use those little toys."

There was the sound of clattering footsteps and Gatsumon bordered in, panting.

"My lord!" he yelled.

"I'm right here there is no need to shout," The Shadow replied evenly. "What is it? It better be good this time. I don't want to hear that the coffee machine's broken again."

"Nightmare Supreme is here my lord!" Gatsumon answered.

"What!" The Shadow yelled. This was new. Nightmare Supreme never came to visit File Island. Not when he had almost half of the Sever Continent under his thumb.

The sound of footsteps and of rustling robes averted The Shadow's four eyes to the archway. And Nightmare Supreme stepped through. His blood red eyes swept over the scene and found The Shadow. He chuckled, his pointed fangs glinting in the half-light. His navy blue robes, so dark they could have been black, rustled on the floor, his legs and black leather boots hidden. His black leather gloves were lined with a blood red strip. A black hood covered his head. Along the left arm of his robes stitched in gold were the symbols Alpha and Omega.

"Shadow," Nightmare whispered. "So good to see you once more."

"Spare me the pleasantries," snarled The Shadow. "You would not have left your own kingdom just to have a friendly talk with you old, for want of a better word, friend."

"I suppose you are right," Nightmare replied coolly. "I have heard that the digidestined are on this island and, well, I wish to finish this fight for you."

"If you had heard from Spacemon that the digidestined were here, I believe that you should also know that I do not require your assistance," The Shadow snarled. "I would rather have The King here than you!"

"The King is away on a tour of Sever," Nightmare replied. "And if you think you have everything under control, I believe you sent Arkadimon to destroy the digidestined. I think that is the move of a desperate man."

"Leave now Nightmare," The Shadow hissed.

"Suit yourself," Nightmare replied. And he stalked out of the throne room.

"Remind me to get him when his back is turned," The Shadow instructed Gatsumon. The rock headed digimon nodded his head and walked out of the chamber. When he reached the arch and paused.

"By the way the coffee machine is broken," he said. And he legged it out of the room.

Filleville, File Island

After the ordeal with Arkadimon, the digidestined walked tiredly into the village, covered in dust and sticky, crystal like fragments that Izzy called 'Data Shards'.

The village was filled with bustling figures, digimon big and small. There was a line of small thatched cottages on each side of the dusty road. One of which had a large sign on it reading 'Burgermon's Best Burgers!'

"What do think?" Tai asked wearily. Matt shrugged his shoulders.

"After what we've been through today I don't care what happens," he replied. "I just want some breakfast."

"The Burgermon are friendly digimon," Tentomon said. "They wouldn't hurt a fly."

"If you say so," Izzy mumbled, rubbing Data Shards out of his eye.

They walked over to the building and knocked on the door. A hatch in the wall opened up to reveal a small counter. A short digimon with a thick light brown moustache and matching hair, with a burger bun placed on the crown of his head. A white apron was wrapped around his front and there was a beaming smile on his face.

"Welcome!" he cried. "Now what can I get you folks?"

And then he noticed the obvious fact.

"Good lord," he said, looking slightly shocked. "Humans. Real humans. Well this is a surprise."

"Sweetie! What do they want?" a woman's voice called from inside the house.

"A minute darling!" he called back over his shoulder. He turned to face the group again and said, "I take it you are the digidestined?"

"Yeah," Tai answered. Burgermon nodded.

"In which case I am honoured that you are here. I will make you whatever you would like. Free! It's the least I can do for the digidestined."

"Oh, thanks," Tai said, smiling. Burgermon returned the smile, and looked at the digidestined.

"I am afraid my home cannot accommodate all of you. Um, would you mind eating on the patio?" Burgermon asked.

"Oh, no of course not," Kari smiled.

Burgermon nodded and disappeared behind the counter. The door opened and Burgermon walked out.

"This way if you please," he said. He guided them behind the house onto a nice patio area with a large table. "Now what would you like?"

The digidestined and their partners placed their requests. Burgermon smiled and nodded. He walked back inside and closed the door.

"Well this is nice," Joe said, keening back in his chair. "At least we can settle down for a while."

"Yep. We can have some real food," Davis muttered, closing his eyes.

"Is that saying something about my cooking?" Matt asked sceptically.

"Leave it there before the fight even starts," Tai said yawning.

Nightmare Supreme was suspended above the digidestined by no visible means. His long robes billowed in the wind and his blood red eyes glowing with malice.

It would be so easy to blast each one of them to ashes. To erase every atom of their existence. They had been a problem to him then and if they were left to continue to raise their powers, they would be a problem to him again. Why had Darkness raised a fool like The Shadow? He had fallen to a single Champion digimon when he had had the power of an Ultimate. It was foolish.

'Nightmare,' a voice made of wind whispered. Nightmare gritted his teeth. He would not fall under the spell of the voice. 'Nightmare. You cannot resist my voice forever. If you do not listen to me, you will fall at the hands of a digidestined.'

"You speak lies," snarled Nightmare. "I shall destroy the digidestined here and now."

He raised one hand above his head, index finger extended. Blood red lightning glittered around his finger. He was about to strike, when a metallic grip strapped itself to his wrist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice from behind Nightmare grated. Nightmare wrenched his hand from the metal grip and spun on the floating spot to face the metallic attacker.

"You!" spat Nightmare.

"Me," Spacemon replied. "You shall not destroy the digidestined. Our master forbids any interference upon File Island unless it is caused by me, him or is a direct order."

"Well I shall not let the imbecile in control of this island let the digidestined slip through his fingertips!" Nightmare roared.

Spacemon yawned, and flicked a silver coin at Nightmare. On contact with the other digimon the coin flashed black. Nightmare opened his mouth to protest, but the coin had already swept him away back to Server.

"I love those transport coins," Spacemon chuckled. He looked at the digidestined one last time then flew away, back towards the Viral Realms.

Davis belched loudly, as his fifth burger disappeared down his throat in two bites. Kari wrinkled her nose in disgust. Tai rolled his eyes and took another long draft from his glass of soda. His eyes saw Burgermon walking out of his house, a beaming smile on his face, accompanied by a similar looking digimon, who could only be his wife.

"How are you enjoying your food?" Mrs. Burgermon asked.

"It's delicious," Izzy said popping another chip into his mouth.

"You flatter us," Burgermon said grinning. "I'm sure you have chiefs in the human world who can cook food better then us."

"No really it is," Sora assured him.

"Why thank you," Burgermon said. "But I'm afraid that this isn't our best quality."

"What are you talking about? This is incredible." Ken said grinning.

"It's to do with The Shadow," Mrs. Burgermon said, hanging her head. "File Island hasn't been the same since he took over."

"What sort of digimon calls themselves The Shadow?" Tai asked.

"The Shadow is a mystery to all except those who serve him," Mrs. Burgermon answered. "He controls File Island through fear, and through his enforcers."

"Sounds to me like he's a coward," Cody muttered.

'I doubt it,' Tai thought. 'He's either not wanting to get his hands dirty straight away, or he's biding his time.'

"Anyway, we're not here to talk about our problems," Burgermon said smiling. "Please if you want anything else, just ask."

The couple walked back inside and closed the door.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

"The digidestined are in Fileville," The Shadow muttered, turning around and looking at FlameWizardmon.

"Yes my lord," FlameWizardmon replied.

"Well we can't have that can we," he muttered. "They're getting too close."

"Let us go my lord," hissed a soft voice from the shadows.

"We shall make them pay for entering your domain," snarled a stronger voice from the darkness.

"I don't know," The Shadow pondered. "I mean they were strong enough to survive five minutes with Arkadimon."

"Arkadimon was blinded by greed and revenge," hissed GigaSeadramon as he slithered from the shadows.

"We are not so self absorbed," stated Chaosmon as he strode out from behind a column. "We shall not fail you."

"You'd better not Chaosmon," The Shadow replied. "Do not underestimate the digidestined. They are clever and not to be taken lightly. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" the two digimon said snapping stiff.

Fileville, File Island

The sky was turning grey as the digidestined bid farewell to the Burgermon couple. Davis was about to reach for the last burger when Veemon beat him to it. Davis then proceeded to knuckle Veemon's cranium.

"Stop fighting you two!" snapped Matt.

Tai walked on ahead again. His mind was working frantically. He was thinking about what Arkadimon had said. About a digimon who was stronger than Spacemon's leader. What had Arkadimon called him? The Dark One. Something about that name tugged at the back of Tai's mind. It was almost as if Tai knew that name.

'You do know my name,' whispered a voice that came from all around Tai, as if it emanated from the air itself.

"Whose there?" Tai snarled, spinning on the spot. And that's when Tai's shadow came to life, and grew a form of it's own. A shadowed, featureless version of Tai. The shadow Tai threw a punch at the real Tai. Tai ducked out of the way of the attack.

The shadow Tai lumbered towards the original, with a rolling lumbering stride. Tai threw a punch of his own. His fist went straight threw the faceless head of his shadow counterpart. The shadow form gripped Tai's wrist in a death grip, and twisted it behind Tai's back. Tai grunted in pain, and flipped the shadow form over his back and onto the ground.

The shadow form melted into the ground and became a shadow once again. It flitted to the other side of Tai and reappeared as a shadow form on his unguarded left. Its head now had a face, exact in every detail. And now the shadow form was more opaque, more solid.

"Kamiya," the shadow form hissed, its voice exactly the same to the one Tai had heard from the air. "So we meet again."

"Who are you?" Tai snarled. He could hear running now, his friends had seen he was in trouble. "Are you the Dark One?"

"I am the Dark One," the shadow form hissed, clearly resentful, that Tai did not know who he was. "You obviously do not know you're family history. No matter. We shall meet again, both of flesh and blood."

The shadow form dissipated into two separated blots of darkness. One fell back into a shadow behind Tai. The other, a stream of black vapour, that coalesced itself for an instant, into a face. As the digidestined ran up to Tai's side, the face disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Matt asked, staring at the space where the face had been. Tai didn't reply. He was transfixed with the same spot Matt was staring at. The face had been on a tyrannical, dragon like head. Only Matt, Tai, and Kari seemed to have seen the connection. The face upon the dragonhead had been Tai's.

The Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

The clear crystal that hung in the green fluid glowed slightly. Darkness looked up from his desk and smiled.

"Ah, our friend has returned from his walkabout," Darkness smiled.

"I believe he was trying to bend Nightmare to his will," Spacemon chuckled. "Like that'll ever happen. Nightmare's to pig-headed to listen to anyone but himself."

"Any advances with collecting the body?" Darkness asked. The chuckle on Spacemon's face, turned into a grimace.

"Ah, um, well," Spacemon, stammered. "Gennai's defences are better laid out than we originally thought. He has summoned at least half of the Olympus Twelve, and I believe that five of the Royal Knights will soon be arriving."

"Eleven of the most powerful digimon in the digital world," hissed Darkness. "This is something I did not expect. The only way to break through it would be… No, it's not time."

"Indeed sir," Spacemon said, slightly relieved. They both knew that their secret weapon should not be revealed to soon.

'Well think of something else,' a silent voice roared. 'My mind grows thinner everyday! My body is imprisoned, and grows closer to breaking with every moment! The spirit of my own body and form is all that remains intact! If you do not fulfil my wishes Darkness, my spirit is all I need to crush you both into less than data! I, the Dark One, will be great again! Now if you don't mind I'm going to have a kip.'

A faint snoring resonated from the crystal in the green fluid. Darkness looked at Spacemon and grimaced.

"Work something out, quickly," he hissed. As Spacemon left the room, Darkness turned back, to a piece of machinery in his metal fingers. A bit, of the now nearly completed, project Ranger.

Native Forest, File Island

Tai sat with his back to the group. He was thinking. How could that face have been his? How? And whatever it was knew his name. Tai shuddered. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet this sort digimon in person. If it could control his shadow from far away, what would its powers be like in person?

"The Dark One," Tai whispered. Something about saying that name aloud brought a memory to the forefront of his mind.

_Odaiba_ _Park, Odaiba, Japan_

_It was Tai's sixth birthday. Tai was in a football match, with Sora, Matt and a few of Tai's pre-school friends. Tai's parents and his friend's parents were standing of the side of the pitch chuckling._

_Tai kicked the ball of the side of the pitch, and into the small clump of trees. Sora jogged off to get it as Tai walked over to get a drink._

_Suddenly, Sora screamed. Everyone began to run across to trees when Sora ran out, the football limp and burst in her hands. Everyone gathered around Sora, who was sobbing too incoherently to be understood._

_Tai looked at the trees and saw a tall, robed man walking out of the trees. His skin was papery and grey, his eyes slit like and pure black. He wore robes of black silk, and his black hair blew slightly in the wind. He appeared slightly transparent._

"_Soon, Kamiya," the man said, before disappearing into black vapour._

Tai opened his eyes. The Dark One, a digimon, who could create the form of a human? How? And if he was supposedly imprisoned in the digital, why? This Dark One had appeared in his life and ruined his sixth birthday.

"Tai?"

Tai looked up at the sound of his name. Joe was standing there, looking concerned.

"Oh, hey Joe," Tai said, attempting a weak smile. Joe squatted down and looked at Tai.

"I've seen some things in the digital world but being attacked by your own shadow," Joe said, grinning slightly, "That's a new one on me."

"I know," Tai said.

"Any idea what it was?" Joe asked.

"One," Tai said, absentmindedly. "This Dark One, that Arkadimon was talking about."

"You think it might be him?"

"I dunno, maybe."

Joe opened his mouth to ask something else, but then a long, thin shadow passed over them. Tai looked up and saw a barely recognisable digimon. It looked like MetalSeadramon, but its armour was greatly jagged.

"Giga Sea Destroyer!" roared, GigaSeadramon. A huge torpedo fired out of the metallic mouth. Tai dived out of the way of the attack, and collided with a tall, green and white something. Tai looked up and saw a tall digimon towering above him.

"So we meet at last," Chaosmon said, a dark touch of menace in his voice. "Such a pity it's the first _and_ last time."

And he lunged at Tai, right arm producing a sword from its end. Tai ducked out of the way and leapt back against a tree.

"Great," Tai said bitterly, "Another digimon who wants to kill me in particular."

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon yelled. The attack bounced harmlessly of Chaosmon, who chuckled.

"I do enjoy your little tricks little digimon," Chaosmon sniggered, "But your powers are nothing compared to mine."

"Gabumon Ex Warp digivolve to-!" Gabumon began, but GigaSeadramon was faster.

"Sky Wave!" the metallic serpent yelled. A storm cloud appeared in the sky, dropping water at imposable speeds. Gabumon dropped to one knee, unable to complete his digivolution.

Agumon was thrown through the air by Chaosmon and smacked into a tree. The Rookie digimon dropped to the floor and crumpled, not moving. Biyomon was about to get to her feet, but Chaosmon drove a knee into her face. The bird digimon collapsed onto the ground.

"Time for a little destruction," Chaosmon chuckled. "Dark Prominence!"

His left arm opened up to a reveal a huge open mouth, powering up a huge ball of black energy.

"Block this digidestined!" Chaosmon crowed. He let the orb fly, and it struck Gatomon in the chest. The small cat-like digimon flew threw the air and struck a tree.

"Leave Gatomon alone!" Kari yelled. Chaosmon cocked his head towards her.

"Would you like to feel my wrath instead?" he questioned, "Bantyo Blade!"

The sword glowed a blazing red as Chaosmon lunged. T.K., as fast as light, dived at Kari, taking her under the blade. Davis was furious. He looked at Chaosmon with absolute hatred. His crest glowed purple, and Ken's glowed with a deep pink. Veemon and Wormmon glowed with a brilliant white light.

"Veemon warp DNA digivolve to…!"

"Wormmon warp DNA digivolve to…!"

"Imperialdramon!"

The dragon like digimon nearly filled the entire clearing. He growled at Chaosmon. The digimon was slightly taken aback by the digivolution, but he composed himself.

"Impressive," Chaosmon said, with genuine feeling. "But you'll have to do better than that."

"Oh really?" Imperialdramon asked, in ExVeemon's voice. "Then take this! Positron Laser!"

The blue spiralling laser attack struck Chaosmon in the chest. The Mega digimon was thrown backwards, but seemed unfazed.

"Is that it?" he asked slightly board. "Well that didn't feel like much. Not compared to this. End of Paradox!"

He raised both his arms into the air. A sphere of darkness rose from his left hand and a column of fire rose from his right. The two combined entities roared towards Imperialdramon. The attack burst into flames and shadows. From the mess rose Imperialdramon Fighter Mode.

"Positron Laser!" he yelled again. But before the attack could be fired properly, GigaSeadramon struck.

"Giga Sea Destroyer!" he roared. The torpedo struck the Imperialdramon in the face. The digimon collapsed into a heap.

"You could never have defeated Arkadimon, if he wasn't blinded by revenge," Chaosmon chuckled.

"We'll see about that," Imperialdramon grunted.

"Imperialdramon," Agumon croaked. The warrior digimon did not hear him. As Imperialdramon flew into the air for another round with Chaosmon, Agumon staggered to his feet. He glanced over at Gabumon, took a deep breath and charged. As he got within three feet of the column of water Gabumon was being crushed under Agumon dived through it, taking Gabumon out with him.

"Thank you," he gasped.

"We still need to take them out," Agumon reminded.

"Then let's digivolve," Gabumon suggested. Agumon shook his head.

"I believe that these guys need to be taught a greater lesson. DNA digivolution."

"We might not be able to do it."

"Has that ever stopped us before?"

"No."

"Then lets go."

Both digimon turned to face the battling Imperialdramon, Chaosmon and GigaSeadramon.

"Agumon warp DNA digivolve to…!"

"Gabumon warp DNA digivolve to…!"

"Omnimon!"

Before anyone had time to react to the presence of the white warrior, Omnimon had joined the battle. Chaosmon was now going blow for blow with Omnimon.

"You got spunk I'll give you that," Chaosmon growled. "But I don't think you've got what it takes."

"Wanna bet?" Omnimon snarled. "Transcendent Sword!"

"Bantyo Blade!"

Blazing sword met glowing blade in a colossal blast of mighty winds. Both digimon cart wheeled through the air, righted themselves, and attacked again.

"Dark Prominence!"

"Supreme Cannon!"

The attacks met an identical result between them, both digimon spinning through the air.

"At this rate the fight'll go on forever," Izzy said, in awe of the strength between the two digimon.

"Isn't there some way we can help them more?" Ken asked desperate.

"We could transfer Omnimon's power to Imperialdramon," Davis suggested. Tai shook his head.

"We only have a foothold on this fight 'cause Omnimon's here," Tai said. "Even if Imperialdramon transformed into his Paladin Mode it still wouldn't be enough."

"What then!" snapped Davis.

"I don't know?" Tai said darkly.

As he said it, Imperialdramon and Omnimon were thrown to floor.

"Dark Prominence!"

"Sky Wave!"

The attacks flew towards the fallen digimon and brought a field of shadows to the digimon.

"Imperialdramon!" Ken and Davis called.

"Omnimon!" yelled Tai and Matt.

There was no reply. Tai clenched his fist. Davis growled.

"These guys are tough," Kari muttered.

The darkness began to fade and Tai saw two glowing shapes. Two large digi-eggs.

"What the hell?" Chaosmon snarled.

As he finished those words, the digi-eggs cracked open, and two digimon shot out into the sky.

"We're back," DestroyerImperialdramon chuckled.

"And we're ready," CreationOmnimon smiled.

To be continued…


	6. The Knight, and The Shadow

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Six: The Knight, and The Shadow

Outskirts, Viral Realms

Apollomon cast a flickering red glow over the area of his guard. He looked over the pit below him and could faintly see the glowing lights of his fellow watchers. Eight watchers standing guard over the eight points on the compass rose.

North, Kentaursomon. Northwest, Marsmon. West, Diannamon. Southwest, Examon. South, Cranianmon. Southeast, Neptunomon. East, Apollomon. And at Northeast, Magnamon.

Something gleaming white, dropped from the sky. Omnimon slowed before crashing to the ground, hovering just a few inches above it.

"Anything?" Omnimon asked.

"Nothing," Apollomon replied. Omnimon looked worried.

"I'm sure he would've tried something by now," he said.

"I heard about Gallantmon," Apollomon said.

"Yes," Omnimon said darkly. "He has given up his single time of assistance now."

"The judgments of Gallantmon are rash."

"Indeed."

Apollomon looked down into the pit and shuddered.

"I still cannot believe someone would be insane enough to revive him."

"Well you obviously haven't met Darkness. Be alert, I smell foul play on the horizon."

And with that, Omnimon took to the skies.

Native Forest, File Island

DestroyerImperialdramon was similar to Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. However he was taller, and his armour was an even darker shade of black, streaked with pulsing blue and red. Creation Omnimon was now even taller, his amour permanently glowing. The brave shield upon his shoulder was now cast Chrome and Gold Digizoide. The Omni Sword was strapped to his left wrist now; the WarGreymon head at the end of his arm now empty.

"Destroyer Positron!" roared DestroyerImperialdramon. A spiralling beam of red and blue energy cascaded towards Chaosmon. The attack pressed him through the air, straight towards CreationOmnimon.

"Immortal Sword!" the white digimon roared. The gleaming white Omni Sword's markings glowed red with power. CreationOmnimon slashed with this weapon at Chaosmon. The sword blazed with light energy on contact with Chaosmon throwing him to the ground.

GigaSeadramon flew through the air and coiled himself around DestroyerImperialdramon. At once, CreationOmnimon was there, his sword already raised. With a mighty roar, he brought it down on GigaSeadramon's head. The snake digimon roared in agony as he was thrown to the ground by the force of the attack.

Chaosmon staggered to his feet and raised his left hand.

"Dark Prominence!" he roared. The attack spiralled towards CreationOmnimon, who batted it away with his hand.

"Pathetic," Omnimon chuckled.

"Pathetic," Chaosmon repeated. "Pathetic! You shall regret saying that word! I shall show what makes us the most feared warriors upon File Island!"

"What?" Omnimon whispered.

"Chaosmon digivolve to…!"

"GigaSeadramon digivolve to…!"

"Stop them!" Tai yelled.

"Majestic Blade!" DestroyerImperialdramon roared, diving at the pair of glowing digimon, the spikes on his right arm glowing white.

"Absolute Cannon!" bellowed CreationOmnimon. The MetalGarurumon head opened to reveal a cannon glowing, ready to fire. But by then, it was too late.

"DecimationChaosmon!"

"MaxusGSeadramon!"

DecimationChaosmon was taller and pure black. On his left arm was a black sword, fixed there. His left hand was a deep blue-barrelled cannon. MaxusGSeadramon had jagged black armour streaked with Gold Digizoide.

DestroyerImperialdramon's attack streaked across the armour of MaxusGSeadramon, leaving no mark whatsoever. The blast of CreationOmnimon hit DecimationChaosmon, driving him backwards through the trees. As the dust settled DecimationChaosmon chuckled.

"Nice," he chuckled. "That tickled."

"What?" CreationOmnimon gasped.

"Now it's my turn," DecimationChaosmon snarled, raising his cannon left hand. "Generate Dark!"

The sphere of darkness flew through the air with great speed. CreationOmnimon moved out of the way just in time. Tai and Matt leaped into CreationOmnimon's outstretched hand. Both CreationOmnimon and DecimationChaosmon flew upwards. DestroyerImperialdramon flew to assist him, when MaxusGSeadramon got in his way.

"Not so fast," he snarled. "Sky Tsunami!"

A column of water fell from the sky so fast that it forced DestroyerImperialdramon to his knees. MaxusGSeadramon floated down to DestroyerImperialdramon's level and chuckled.

"Now take this!" he bellowed. "Max Ocean Beam!"

He opened his jaws and a beam of navy blue energy flew forth from them. The beam seemed never ending as it bored into DestroyerImperialdramon.

"Davis… Ken," he groaned.

"Stop it!" yelled Davis. MaxusGSeadramon didn't seem to hear him. Then, as it seemed that DestroyerImperialdramon was about to break apart…

"Royal Joust!" roared a deep strong voice. Bolts of red lightning flew through the air and destroyed MaxusGSeadramon. A petrified look of surprise was in his eyes, as he broke into fragments of data.

"What the?" Kari asked in shock. She looked up and saw a digimon in gleaming Chrome Digizoide armour, a shield upon his left arm, a lance upon the other. A flowing red cape flew behind him.

"Gallantmon," whispered Gatomon at Kari's feet.

DecimationChaosmon and CreationOmnimon were locked in brutal combat. CreationOmnimon was slashing with quick brutal strikes, DecimationChaosmon firing shot after shot wherever he could. Suddenly something forced the two apart. Both digimon were unconcerned by this affair, but chose that moment to release even more devastating attacks.

"Twin Blade Devastator!" roared CreationOmnimon. A second, flaming blade appeared out of the WarGreymon head on his left arm.

"Duo Dark Shot!" bellowed DecimationChaosmon. His left arm cannon opened, revealing two spiralling spheres of darkness. Both digimon launched their attacks. CreationOmnimon slashed with his twin blades, two flying energy slivers following them. Two circling beams of darkness blasted out of DecimationChaosmon's left hand.

The two attacks combined with a mighty explosion. Throwing both digimon backwards, Tai and Matt clutching onto CreationOmnimon's neck for all they were worth. Something silver shot up into the sky.

"Final Purification!" roared the silver digimon. A beam of gleaming gold and red energy spiralled out of nowhere. DecimationChaosmon was hit by the beam and was thrown backwards. The dark digimon growled darkly.

"This is my fight!" roared DecimationChaosmon. "Leave now! Paradox Oblivion!"

A sphere of energy generated in front of the evil digimon's chest and flew towards the silver digimon. The digimon deflected the sphere as if it was nothing.

"Royal Joust!" bellowed the digimon. Arcs of red lightning flew towards DecimationChaosmon. The bolts of energy shattered DecimationChaosmon into particles of data. The silver digimon turned and faced CreationOmnimon.

"Omnimon would be turning in his grave if he were actually dead," Gallantmon smirked. "Imagine having to digivolve to defeat a Mega level digimon. I will never understand non-knightlings."

"Hey, don't trash our digimon!" snapped Matt. "Who are you to say stuff like that!"

"I am Gallantmon, Royal Knight of the digital world," Gallantmon proclaimed. "Though this may not be the best place to talk about this world. Come let us descend."

Gallantmon descended through the air to the ground.

"Do we trust him Tai?" Matt asked.

"I trust him," CreationOmnimon said.

"He helped us beat that guy," Tai said. "We at least need to hear what he has to say."

CreationOmnimon descended back to the ground, quickly catching up to Gallantmon. Gallantmon did not seem to notice the more advanced digimon, until CreationOmnimon dedigivolved back into WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. Gallantmon looked at the two digimon and snorted. Matt was about to ask what his problem was, but T.K.'s indistinct voice broke into his mind. He looked down and saw his younger brother and the rest of the digidestined.

Tai grinned as he saw that DemiVeemon and Minomon were both okay. The ground came up faster than he anticipated, the impact throwing him to the ground. He looked back at his digimon, as he dedigivolved into Koromon. He looked at MetalGarurumon as he dedigivolved into Tsunomon. Gallantmon stood there his lance transforming back into his arm. Tai noticed that he was half the size of the digimon who had saved them, and shrinking fast. With in a minute he was only two feet taller than Tai himself.

"As small as I can get I am afraid," he said, sitting down. He snapped his fingers, and tree branches were torn from there trees and set in an arrangement for a fire, and after a couple of seconds of Gallantmon's intensive stare, alighted into bright flames.

"Okay why did you trash Omnimon?" Matt snapped, Tsunomon in his arms.

"I was simply stating that non-knightlings were simply less powerful than we," Gallantmon said dryly.

"We being?" Tai asked.

"The Royal Knights," Koromon piped up.

"The what?" Izzy asked.

"The Royal Knights are practically the most powerful digimon in the digital world," Tentomon explained. "I never thought they existed though."

"Well we are real," Gallantmon said. "I came due to the fact that you needed my assistance."

"We would've beaten him eventually," Matt huffed.

"You would not," Gallantmon snapped. "Your opponents may digivolve independently, whereas your digimon partners cannot maintain a digivolved form for longer than six to ten minutes. They would have been destroyed, obliterated, deleted."

"How did you beet both of them?" Tai asked. "You're a Mega level digimon, they were both Master."

Gallantmon chuckled as Tai asked this and answered, "The Royal Knights are the mightiest of digimon, and have immense power over normal digimon. Our power is that of a level beyond Master."

"Beyond Master?" Izzy repeated incredulously.

"Well it is necessary," Gallantmon said. "Our power must be great to deal with the many sources of evil throughout the digital world."

"So you must know about the Dark One," Tai said coolly. Gallantmon stiffened and looked at Tai. Tai realised that his eyes were filled with either shame, or fear.

"The line has been gone too long," Gallantmon muttered. "The memories are lost to you."

"What does that mean?" Kari snapped.

"Nothing that concerns you at the moment," Gallantmon hissed. He looked back at Tai and said, "The Dark One is the ultimate enemy in the digital world. And you should fear him."

"Why?" Ken asked.

"He is so powerful that the digital world trembles under a single look. However he is imprisoned. His mind body and spirit are separated in three different prisons. They have been kept apart and their power's diminished for over ten millennia."

"So what sorts of powers do these three parts of the Dark One, have?" Sora asked.

"Well the only one that has absolute power is his spirit," Gallantmon pondered. "If it was been released it would have the ability to control basic shapes, such as trees or shadows or perhaps, create a spirit form and travel through the digital world or the human world. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Sora muttered. "I just have this feeling."

"The spirit has already been released," Tai said suddenly. Gallantmon stood up so fast he grew several inches.

"How can you know?" he choked.

"My sixth birthday," Tai muttered. "There was someone there, someone evil."

Gallantmon gulped.

"This is disturbing," Gallantmon murmured, growing constantly. "I must return to my comrades."

"What?" Kari exclaimed. "Why?"

"If the spirit has been released for so long, then the body and mind are sure to follow. The mind might already have been freed."

"What's so bad about this Dark One?" Sora asked, folding her arms. Gallantmon looked at her.

"The Dark One once nearly brought about the destruction of the digital world," he answered. And with that he launched himself into the air.

"Well that gave us some answers," Kari muttered.

"Yeah like we've never fought an opponent who's nearly destroyed the digital world," Matt chuckled.

"That doesn't exactly help Matt," T.K. said.

"What it's true," Matt said, looking slightly amused.

"This doesn't feel the same as those guys Matt," Tai muttered. "This feels almost as if this will be the toughest test we've ever been through."

"Yeah, like we've never heard that before," Sora muttered. Tai's eyes swept over to her and she shut up.

"We should make camp," Tai said. "At least Gallantmon gave us a fire."

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

FlameWizardmon cowered behind the marble pillar, as his master's rage broke stone the walls as he bellowed in rage. He picked the obsidian throne with one hand and threw it out of the temple in one expert motion, where it rolled down the mountainside.

"Is there anyone who can defeat those nuisances?" roared The Shadow. He slammed a fist into the wall and the whole side of the temple cracked and fell in. And then as he seemed ready to obliterate the entire temple, a flash of dark light consumed him. FlameWizardmon crept out from behind the pillar. Instead of the pure grey digimon who had once stood there with insect wings, was an even more formidable digimon. The Shadow had achieved his ultimate power.

"How does it feel master?" asked FlameWizardmon. The Shadow took his time to answer.

"I feel more powerful than ever," he muttered. "Like I could take over the entire Sever continent single-handed."

"Good to hear master," FlameWizardmon said, attempting a smile.

"I think I shall take my new power out for a spin," The Shadow said. He beat his insect wings and hovered slightly above the ground. With a quick burst of agility and flew out of the wrecked temple. Before he left he turned around and looked at FlameWizardmon.

"Oh and tidy this mess," he said to the scarecrow like digimon.

The Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

Darkness stood at the top of the tower with Spacemon at his side, watching the endless storm flash above them, and the enormous army match out of the capital below them.

"So it is finished?" asked Spacemon.

"Project Ranger is completed," Darkness answered. "But it must be fully used upon a human before I can configure it for digimon use."

"Are you sure this will work?" Spacemon said.

"Have I ever let you down before my friend?"

"Yes."

"Really when was that?"

"When you failed to give me a pay rise."

"You will not let that go will you?"

"Not until I get my pay rise."

"Leave the conversation there."

"Yes sir. Can I have a pay rise?"

"No."

"I don't like you."

"Oh shut up."

Native Forest, File Island

Tai was down by the river filling up the group's water supply. The others were doing other jobs. Tai looked into the water's depths looking for some answers to the question's that possessed his already filled mind.

"What was Gallantmon talking about?" Tai said out loud. '"The line has been gone too long.' What the hell does that mean?"

'The answers to those question's can only be answered by you,' a voice in Tai's head said. He stood bolt upright, thinking it was the voice of The Dark One. But this voice was calmer, softer, more human.

"Great I'm hearing voices," Tai muttered. "Hey why not? Make my miserable life complete."

'Your sense of humour is quite entertaining,' the voice whispered. 'But my voice is quite real.'

"So who the hell are you?" Tai asked, forgetting how mad it would seem to the others to see him talking to thin air.

'I am Taichino Kamiya,' the voice whispered. 'In relation to you I am you great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.'

"Yeah, I would think up something like this."

"Oh for god's sake how many times, I am REAL.'

"Yeah, I'll keep telling myself that."

'Okay you asked for it sonny.'

And a huge blackness bulldozed its way into Tai's head. It happened too quickly for Tai to comprehend, and he fell over, knocked out.

"I wonder what's taking Tai so long to get those water bottles filled up," Sora asked, as she helped put fish on the fire.

"Don't know, don't really care," Matt said, as he collected firewood.

"Should we look for him?" Sora asked.

"Knowing Tai he's just trying to sneak up on us," Kari said, slightly bored lying down by the fire.

"I agree with Sora," T.K. said straightening up from picking berries.

"Well who am I to say no," Matt said, still not looking up. "I mean Tai's the leader."

"Destroyer Dark!" roared a voice above their heads. T.K. looked up and dived aside, a fraction of a second to late. The beam of concentrated darkness clipped the side of his chest, sending pain spiralling up to his brain.

He hit the ground hard, attempted to get up, and crumpled unconscious. Kari screamed and ran to his side, T.K. was breathing hard and there was some blood already seeping through the gash in his side.

Kari looked up at the digimon who had attacked. He had long insect like wings, his chest and arms were blood red, a large black skull just over his heart was and another one on his left shoulder. His hands had long black claws instead of fingers. His legs were covered in a thick shaggy blue fur, and his feet were blue skinned with purple. He had four eyes Kari noticed, and his teeth were that of a spider. On top of his head were two curling ram horns.

"Look at that," The Shadow said with slight glee. "I missed."

"Don't you think that's a little cowardly?" Matt yelled. "Attacking while T.K. had his back turned."

"Technically he was facing me," The Shadow said, chuckling.

"That's it," snarled Matt, Gabumon already at his side. "Ready Gabumon?"

"You bet Matt," Gabumon snarled. "Gabumon Ex warp digivolve to… CyberGarurumon!"

CyberGarurumon launched himself at The Shadow, his fist already drawn back to attack. The Shadow parried the still forming attack with a wolf clawed kick to the face. CyberGarurumon spiralled through the air.

"Incredible," The Shadow said, looking at his hands. "I never dreamed my power could be so strong. I can't believe I was beaten by you before."

"Wait, we've met before?" CyberGarurumon looked confused.

"Indeed we have," The Shadow chuckled. "But I was a different digimon then. Now I am reborn! Destroyer Dark!"

The bolt of darkness cut through CyberGarurumon's armour like paper. The wolf like digimon howled as he dedigivolved back into Gabumon.

"I am reborn," The Shadow repeated. "I am once again the ruler of File Island. This time no digidestined can stop me now. This time, I, DevilDevimon, ultimate ruler of the demon underworld shall prevail!"

With a buzz of his insect wings DevilDevimon flew back to his temple lair at the top of Infinity Mountain.


	7. Memories Forgotten, are Memories Lost

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Seven: Memories Forgotten, are Memories Lost

Native Forest, File Island

Joe was frantically sterilising T.K.'s wound, whilst trying to keep a frantic Kari from getting in the way.

"Let me work Kari," Joe snapped, once a gain trying to keep Kari out of the way with one hand. "I need both hands to do this."

"Is he going to be okay?" Kari asked through streaming eyes.

"Davis can you just keep her away for me?" pleaded Joe, looking up at the goggle headed boy with the plea in his eyes as well.

"Kari just let Joe work," Davis said, taking Kari by the shoulders, attempting to lead her away from Joe and the unconscious T.K. Instantly she began to kick and scream at Davis.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "I need to see!"

"No you don't Kari," Davis growled through gritted teeth, both trying to hold Kari and avoid getting a hit in the gob as well. "Let Joe work."

"T.K. needs me!" she screamed. Davis looked over at Matt for help, but he was crouched by his brother's head, tears flowing silently down the side of his face.

"A little help here," Davis yelled at the others.

Sora strode over and put a hand on the side of Kari's face.

"Shhh, it's going to be fine," Sora soothed. Kari's kicking lessened, but by no means stopped. "Quiet Kari. T.K. will be all right. Just calm down."

Kari stopped kicking all together, but Davis kept a loosed grip on her shoulders just in case.

"There now," Sora whispered. "Feeling any better."

Kari nodded slightly.

"Davis I'll take it from here. Where the hell is Tai?" she snapped at thin air.

"No clue," Mimi said from across the other side of the clearing.

Tai was face down on the ground, his limbs still in the same position of that when he had fallen. It would have been clear to anyone who saw him that he lying face down, unconscious or dead. But what wasn't clear was that it was only Tai's physical form that lay there. His mind and spirit, had wandered of elsewhere.

?

Tai was lying face down on something that wasn't forest earth. More like floor tiles. He opened his eyes to grey mist. He pressed down on the floor with his hands to get up, and nearly went right through it. He leapt to his feet in shock.

"What is this place?" Tai asked, his voice echoing in the emptiness.

"The land of memories," a voice, not too different from his own, answered. Tai whirled around, looking for the speaker. A boy, around his own age was stood there. His chocolate brown hair was cut slightly shorter than Tai's. His handsome facial features were marred by the battle scar on his right check. His clothes were that of what appeared to be a medieval knight, a sword strapped to his hip.

"You're me," was the first thing Tai could think of saying. The boy shook his head.

"No," he said. "Although the resemblance between us is uncanny. No Tai I am Taichino, your great, great, great, well you get the picture."

"Wait," Tai said holding his hands up. "If you really are my great, thingy grandfather, how are you here?"

"Ah an excellent question," Taichino said grinning. "I am a mental ghost locked away in your subconscious, with the answers to many of your questions."

"Can you tell me then-?"

"No I am not going to tell if you will go on a date with Sora eventually. I'm talking about questions on the digital world. Specifically The Dark One."

"Why did he appear at my sixth birthday?" Tai asked. Taichino smiled.

"I shall show you something," he said. He snapped his fingers and the grey misted receded. They were standing in a hospital corridor. Three people were sat outside the hospital room in the seats along the corridor. One of them was a man, with grey hair and was wearing a blue jumper and black trousers. The woman sat beside him had black hair. She was wearing a grey blouse and black trousers. The third figure was wearing a white robe that stood at odds with the clothes of the people around him. A man walked calmly out of the hospital room beside the three people. He had sort brown hair, and deep brown eyes. His grey jacket and white shirt, gave the impression that he had just come from work.

"Dad," Tai muttered in recognition of his father.

"Well?" the woman said eagerly.

"It's a boy," Susumu Kamiya said, his face splitting in a wide grin.

"Brilliant!" yelled the older man beside the woman.

"Congratulations Susumu," said the robed man. Tai's father stopped in his tracks. A look of almost absolute horror on his face.

"What is he doing here?" he said, pointing a finger at the robed man.

"Apparently," said the woman, with a look of slight distaste, "To be present of the birth of the next digidestined."

"No," Tai's father said. "My son is not going to that… that… place."

The robed man stood up and said, "It had been foretold in stone and star Susumu. Your son is the next Kamiya to take up the title of digidestined."

"You also said that the next digidestined Kamiya would face trials beyond any other," said the older man.

"I understand your concern," the robed man said, but was cut off by Tai's dad.

"No you don't Gennai!" snapped Tai's dad. "My little boy is not going. That is final."

Gennai pushed back the hood of his cloak and looked Tai's father in the eye.

"You would attempt to stop destiny," he hissed. "A man who has never even stepped foot in the digital world. Your son will be the greatest digidestined since the beginning. He will overcome any trouble set before him."

"How can you be sure of that?" said a chillingly familiar voice. Gennai spun around. The Dark One stood there, only this time dressed in a black leather jacket, white t-shirt and black jeans, a pair of black sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.

"How are you here?" Tai's dad said. "You're imprisoned."

"Lets not dwell on the past shall we," The Dark One muttered dryly. "So you've had a son, good for you. You do realise that, seeing as though I've partially been released, he'll have to fight me one day."

"You touch one hair on my son's head," Tai's dad growled. He threw a punch straight into The Dark One's face. It went straight through.

"Ouch," The Dark One chuckled. "That hurt. What are you going to do next? Pull rabbits out your arse?"

"Leave now," Gennai said, standing in between The Dark One and Susumu.

"Or what?" The Dark One challenged.

"Just go!" snapped the woman beside Tai's father.

"Well of course when the woman asks everything's going to be fine," The Dark One chuckled. And with that he disappeared.

The fog coiled in around them once again. Tai looked down at his feet. His father was younger in that vision than Tai had ever seen him. The people around him had been his aunt, who had moved away, and his grandfather who had passed away.

"That was the day I was born," Tai muttered. Taichino nodded.

"The Dark One was released five days prior," he explained.

"How does my dad know about the digital world?" Tai snapped. Taichino smiled.

"I was the first digidestined in the Kamiya line," he explained. "For reasons unknown, each Kamiya after me became a digidestined, with the single generation gap here or there. So it seemed pointless to keep it a secret from our own blood. We passed the secret of the digital world down the generations. Then, there came a time where no new digidestined Kamiya were born, and so no new digidestined came to save the digital world. Then, when you were born, the line was restarted. However your parents, who would have been told the stories, wanted to keep you out of it for as long as possible. Unfortunately for him, you were called up to be digidestined."

"The Dark One was there."

"He has appeared several time since in your life, as we shall now see."

And the grey mist turned black.

Native Forest, File Island

Davis, Veemon, Yolei and Hawkmon were searching through the trees. Tai had been gone far to long to be just trying to scare them.

"The stream shouldn't be too far now," Davis muttered.

"Knowing the digital world it's probably moved," chuckled Yolei.

"You're probably right there," Davis chuckled back.

"You know you should be more serious Yolei," Hawkmon scolded from above their heads. "I mean for all we know, DevilDevimon might have attacked Tai when he was filling the water bottles."

"Yeah," Veemon piped up. "For all we know, Tai could be the one needing Joe's attention more than T.K.

"I hate it when you're right," Davis snarled.

Yolei and Davis walked on silently, until they could hear the burbling sound of a stream. They glanced at each other and then ran through the woods and stopped. They had broken into the clearing and saw the thin stream, and Tai who lay beside it.

"Tai!" yelled Davis and Yolei simultaneously. They rushed to Tai's side. He was a deathly pale. When Yolei leaned in to touch a hand to Tai's forehead, gold lightning crackled across his skin, and leapt to Yolei hand.

"Ow!" she screamed.

"You okay?" Hawkmon asked quickly, looking at Tai. The lightning still crackled slightly across his skin.

"Fine," she whispered. "More shock I think."

"What was that?" Veemon asked, looking slightly afraid.

"I have no idea," Davis muttered. "But I don't like it."

?

It was the same hospital, same corridor, almost same anything Tai noticed. The only difference was that instead of their being three people sitting by the door, there were only two. Gennai was sat there with his usual white robe on, and a small boy.

He looked no older than four or five. His chocolate brown hair stood up in spikes. His deep brown eyes stared questioningly at everything around him. He had a blue t-shirt on, with orange stars on his shoulders. His brown shorts covered slightly tanned legs that swung through the air, barely just scraping the floor. The thing that Tai found embarrassing was that the younger him that sat before them was sucking his thumb.

"When is this?" Tai asked, looking away from his thumb sucking counter-part.

"Four years after your birth," Taichino answered. "This is the birth of your sister."

"Kari," Tai whispered. Tai looked back at himself and Gennai as Tai's aunt strode down the corridor and sat down beside Gennai.

"So I'll ask again," she hissed. "Why are you here?"

"You should know," Gennai hissed back.

"I thought you said Tai was going to be a digidestined," she muttered.

"He is," Gennai muttered. "But any Kamiya child born of same parents as the first shall also be a digidestined. I thought you were taught that."

"Great," said Tai's aunt.

The door opened and Tai's father walked out.

"Daddy!" cried the four-year-old Tai before them. He leapt of the seat and wrapped his arms around his father's waist. Susumu smiled and ruffled his son's hair. The he glanced up and saw his younger sister and Gennai.

"Please tell me this is just to congratulate me," he sighed.

"I'm afraid not my old friend," Gennai replied.

Tai's aunt, noticing a conversation about the digital world starting said, "Tai, sweaty. Could you go get aunty some coffee please?"

"Okay aunty," Tai said beaming, taking the money offered to him. He began running along the corridor, looked both ways and turned right.

"Okay let's talk," Susumu snapped. "Why are you here? You said my son would be a digidestined. That I have accepted. I realise that if I cannot stop it, I shall delay it. But you cannot expect my little baby girl in there to be a digidestined."

"You should know by now that when any digidestined Kamiya is born," Gennai said coolly still sitting down, "That any sibling born of the same parents, will be digidestined as well."

"Oh goodie more fun," said a dark, mocking voice. Gennai whiled around and slipped on the wet floor. He landed on his chest with a loud, thwack! He pushed himself to his feet and looked deep into the eyes of The Dark One.

"You are becoming irritating to say the least," Gennai snarled.

"It's a gift I have," The Dark One said, looking at his fingernails. "So you have a baby girl eh? Good for you. It is against my vows to slay any woman."

"Really?" Susumu said, slightly hopeful.

"Of course not," laughed The Dark One. "I don't have any vows."

"Why are you here?" Tai's aunt asked, a hint of menace in her voice.

"Lets say I have to pay my respects," The Dark One said. "That, and I want to see your son, Susumu."

As if on cue, Tai ran down the corridor, a steaming cup of cafe coffee in his little hands. The Dark One looked into his eyes, and Tai faltered slightly. The look that passed between held fast for more than a millisecond, before he disappeared, as if he was never there.

"Who was that man daddy?" the small Tai asked. Susumu looked at his son puzzled.

"What man Tai?"

The black vapour closed in on them again. Tai shuddered. He remembered now. The look that had passed between them he had forgotten. It filled him with dread to this very day. Those eyes. So cold, so empty. There was no mercy in those eyes. Tai now knew that The Dark One was fighting to kill.

"What did he mean?" Tai asked looking at his ancestor "When he said that he was there to pay respects?"

"He wanted to see my descendant," Taichino explained. "Before he was separated in three, he was twin to my digimon partner. The Dark One, and The Pure One. The Dark One was kept in check by The Pure One. But alas, my partner was destroyed by a force unknown. The Dark One was unbound and my fellow digidestined and me defeated him. The Dark One was paying his respects to the descendant of his brothers partner."

"He still has some decency," Tai muttered.

"Quite," Taichino smiled. "But we have many more memories to see."

And the mist turned black once again.

Native Forest, File Island

"It doesn't make any sense," Davis muttered again.

Izzy nodded and said, "You've said that, so why don't you show me what doesn't make sense?"

"Okay," Davis muttered. He picked up a small twig, and threw it at Tai. The golden lightning flashed from Tai's back, setting the twig on fire, and then turning it to ash, the ash swept off by a strange wind.

"That... is interesting," Izzy accepted. "It doesn't seem to be an effect of DevilDevimon. More like an effect of..."

He bent down and quickly flipped Tai over, hissing in pain of the golden lightning.

"As I expected," he muttered. Tai's crest glowed like molten steel, arcs of lightning flying across his body. "Some power in Tai's crest is protecting his body from any harm, or contact."

"You said his body," Yolei muttered. "What do you mean?"

"Our crests don't show this sort of power, even if we are unconscious. I believe that whatever power surrounds Tai, protects only his body. His mind or spirit, or perhaps both, are elsewhere."

"Dead?" Davis muttered, slightly afraid.

"Of course not," Izzy muttered. "If he was dead, A: the data that makes up his body would not even be here. B: if Tai really was dead, do you really think that his crest would try to protect him?"

"Good point," Davis muttered, feeling foolish.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island

DevilDevimon strode across the temple floor. A dark grin was split across his face. He threw his arms about in absolute no sense.

"The power," he muttered again and again. "It is insane. This power is just intoxicating."

"Glad someone's happy," muttered FlameWizardmon, dragging a brush along the floor, sweeping dust and rubble along.

"What was that?" snapped DevilDevimon.

"Nothing lord," FlameWizardmon said hastily.

"It better be."

Devidramon flew through the temple entrance, his skeletal fingers wrapped around the arms of obsidian throne of his lord. Devidramon dropped it back in its place and DevilDevimon sat down.

"It was too easy," he muttered. "They could not even hope to stop me."

"You shall rule File Island forever master," supported FlameWizardmon

"Forget File Island," laughed DevilDevimon. "That was only when I had a small portion of my power. Now I have more strength than The King. I shall take over his Dark Concert with one hand."

"But he is our ally," said FlameWizardmon.

"So?" DevilDevimon chuckled. "His music is intolerable."

"Good point," muttered FlameWizardmon.

?

The scene that was set before Tai was not what he was expecting. He was looking at a small little girl. She had deep, reddish brown hair, and her soft auburn eyes looked at something behind them, with deep hatred.

"Sora," Tai whispered. She was no older than eight. She was wearing blue jeans, and a yellow t-shirt. A small lump of something greeny grey was on the back of her head, and her hat was in her hands.

"I'm sorry," said a small voice from behind Tai. He turned around and saw himself again, another four years older. He was wearing brown shorts and a blue shirt.

"Oh you're sorry!" snapped Sora. "You puked in my hat and didn't tell me about it until I put it on! That requires something more than I'm sorry, Tai!"

Tai furrowed his brow and stormed of. He opened the door and slammed it shut. Tai floated through the door and saw his younger self-running away from the apartment door.

He turned around a corner, and slammed into the front of a black clad man.

"Watch it boy," he snapped.

"Sorry mister," Tai breathed. The man recognised Tai and smiled a crooked grin.

"You look like you could've had a rough day," he said, slightly more concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Tai snapped, jutting out his jaw.

"Good boy," replied the man. "I hope you can make your day right again, little Kamiya."

And he disappeared. Tai looked back at Taichino, but the mist blackened, and lightened again. Tai recognised the scene instantly, and instinctively dived to his right out of the way of blazing fireball.

Tai looked up and saw a tall imposing grey, green Agumon standing on the corner of the street. On his back, clutching to his shoulders for dear life was a small, four year old girl.

Before Tai could even open his mouth two twin bolts of lightning flashed past. Agumon dodged them and Tai saw an eight-year-old boy in blue pyjamas run out and try to pluck the little girl from Agumon's back.

"Pepper Flame!" roared Agumon. A huge sphere of red and yellow fire was spewed from the digimon's mouth. Tai glanced past and saw Parrotmon hit by the flame.

"Now it's my turn," cackled the unharmed Champion. "Static Destroyer!"

The twin bolts of lightning struck the digimon beneath the bridge, and Tai heard a familiar voice.

"Ah, a beautiful night for carnage," chuckled The Dark One. And then he looked straight at Tai. "I know you're probably watching this, so listen up. You are soooo, dead."

"Nova Flame!" roared Greymon, and The Dark One looked back at the fight. Then back at Tai.

"More resourceful than I thought," The Dark One muttered. And he vanished. Tai looked back at the fight, just in time to see his younger self take his sisters whistle and blow. The sound was still ringing in his ears as the mist returned. He looked at Taichino, who was doubled up with pain.

"What's wrong?" Tai asked stepping forward.

"Out of time I'm afraid," he hissed in his agony. "We will have to continue this some other time."

"Wait!" Tai yelled. "Who is The Dark One? I need to know!"

"Later… Tai," Taichino whispered. And the mist became solid darkness.

Native Forest, File Island

Tai opened his eyes. He noticed he was lying face up, when he was sure he had fallen on his nose. He sat up, and was surprised he could hear a fire burning, and people talking. A wave of nausea slapped Tai across the face. He grimaced and put a hand to his forehead. He let a slight yell as something came of on his fingers. He looked at it, and the yell became a gag. It was thick sticky translucent gold slush. Tai looked down and saw he was coated in the stuff, especially around his crest.

"Why am I always the one who gets coated in the slime?" he muttered. He heard a gasp and the first person he saw was Kari, her face grimy with tears.

"Tai," she said, her voice hoarse. Then she noticed the slime. "Well you could use a bath."

"I know," Tai muttered, scooping off some slime and throwing it playfully at his sister. "What's up with you?"

Kari's face fell and tears began to well up in her eyes. Tai instantly knew he had said the wrong thing.

"Uh-oh," Tai murmured to himself. He looked around, trying to find a decent change in conversation. Then he blurted out, "Where is everyone?"

"Gone Tai," Kari whispered. "DevilDevimon stole them all."

To be continued…


	8. The Furry of the Storm

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Eight: The Fury of the Storm

Native Forest, File Island, Six minutes Prior

Gabumon was rubbing the side of his face, which was slightly bloodied, and whimpering lightly. T.K. was still knocked out, and the rest of the digidestined were gathered around the moved fire. Matt looked back at the still unconscious Tai, and then back at his brother.

"What do you reckon it means?" Matt finally said, breaking the tense silence. Sora looked at him, a puzzled look on her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, we defeated Devimon, the first time we came to the digital world," Matt said. "So how is he here?"

"He could have been reborn as a digi-egg," Mimi suggested. Izzy shook his head.

"Gennai told me that any of the evil digimon we fought originally wouldn't come back as a digi-egg," he explained.

"So how then?" Matt muttered.

"A good question," Izzy said, putting his head on his hand.

Then Wormmon straightened up and said, "Why don't we ask Gennai?"

Izzy nodded and pulled out his laptop, as a mad, cackling voice sounded. Matt looked up, as darkness enveloped them all.

Native Forest, File Island Fragment

"What do you mean they were stolen?" Tai asked Kari. Gatomon sat up and looked at Tai, as did Agumon.

"We don't really know," Gatomon muttered. "There was just this great big shadow and we woke up alone."

Tai looked shocked.

"Why didn't I get sucked up that freak?" Tai hissed.

"There was something up with your crest," Kari explained. "Some sort of protective barrier, of golden lightning. Nothing could touch you."

Tai looked at his crest, and picked it up in his hands, ignoring the slime. He knew he couldn't have helped it, knew that there had been nothing he could've done, but he still felt he hid like a coward.

"Don't even think that Taichi," Agumon scolded, giving Tai a quick 'bonk' on the head. "You are not a coward."

"Then why do I feel like one?" he said falling on his back, spread-eagled. The memories he had been going through with Taichino made him think of other times. "I've always been a coward," Tai muttered. He was thinking about Sora, and Matt. And anger, unlike any other Tai had felt before boiled up in him. It should have been obvious to Matt that Tai loved Sora, but he had just stepped right over him like a rag doll.

Tai leaned over, grabbed a rock from beside him and threw it as hard as he could, anywhere, but all it did was fuel his rage. There was nothing he wanted to do more now than beat Matt to a bloody pulp.

Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

"Looks like Mister Kamiya is losing it," chuckled Darkness.

'And with his lose of friendship with his team-mates, he will become closer to out cause,' chuckled the silent voice of The Dark One.

"I still disagree with this plan," muttered Spacemon. A flash of red and black lightning flew from the crystal in the green liquid and hit Spacemon.

'Idiot,' chuckled The Dark One. 'We need the Kamiya boy. Not only shall he be a valuable ally, but if he is our ally, then the other digidestined will bow before us.'

"I still don't like it," Spacemon muttered. "Anger and revenge don't last forever."

Toy Town, File Island Fragment

It was dark in Toy Town. Darker than Matt had ever seen it. He was shocked. Half of the buildings had been blow in and what was still standing had been blackened by fire. Gabumon looked just as shocked as Matt did.

"Seeing Fileville," Matt said. "It just makes you think that, that nothing really happened."

"I know," Gabumon said appalled at the sight of this once peaceful village. "Where are all the digimon?"

Primary Village, File Island Fragment

Sora looked horrified. The buildings of primary village had been blasted apart. All the colour of the village had been sucked away like when the Dark Masters had taken over. There was not a digi-egg in sight.

"What happened here?" she said, mortified.

"No idea," whispered Biyomon.

"Who could do such a thing?" she said.

"DevilDevimon, that's who," spat Biyomon.

Andromon Factory, File Island Fragment

Davis looked up at the mass of metal and smoke. The smoke was not rising from the factory smoke stacks, but from the blazing fires that rose from the factory itself. He saw Kokuwamon fly off the roof of the building, fire's blazing on their backs.

"We have to help them!" Davis yelled. Veemon shook his head and pointed to the army of ShadowWereGarurumon, attacking with their 'Half Moon Kick!' attacks, destroying the poor rookie digimon.

"I can't even digivolve to ultimate without Wormmon," muttered Veemon hopelessly.

Yokomon village, Gear Savannah, File Island Fragment

Mimi wailed as she saw the devastation before them. The thatched roofs of the Yokomon village were on fire. Phantomon and Bakemon alike roamed through the streets cackling madly.

"Why would someone do this?" Mimi balled. Palmon put a rooted hand on the partners arm.

"I don't know Mimi," Palmon whispered. "But DevilDevimon is going to pay for this."

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

The snow was slush around T.K. as he woke up. He looked around and felt a blinding pain in his right side. He nearly passed out but fought against it. He looked through blurred vision and saw white snow, tall trees… red fire.

"Pat… a… mon," he croaked. For the first time he noticed that he was being pulled along, away from the fire. T.K.'s vision finally clear and he saw where he was. It was a frozen forest. He could hear the soft wing beats of his partner digimon Patamon behind him, dragging him away from the flames.

"Devimon," T.K. growled.

Temple Labyrinth, File Island Fragment

The small group of digidestined were huddled in around the fire. Izzy counted them 'lucky'.

"Lucky?" Yolei repeated shocked. "We're separated from the others. How are we lucky?"

"Because DevilDevimon sent us to the one place we have the advantage," Izzy said, a slight grin on his face.

"How do we have the advantage here?" Cody asked.

"Because when we came here before," Tentomon explained, "Izzy managed to wire up the hole labyrinth to his laptop. He can see anything that goes on in here."

"So how does that help us find the others?" snapped Yolei.

"It doesn't," said Ken. "But Izzy's thinking of a strong base for when we do find the others."

"And what about T.K.?" Cody muttered.

"Yeah, what about T.K.?" snapped Yolei.

"Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve anything," Hawkmon said to Yolei.

"He's right," Armadillomon said to Cody. "We have to concentrate on finding the others first."

"So any clue where they are?" Ken said, trying to break the tense silence. Yolei sighed and shook her head. Cody shrugged. Izzy made a grimace and Joe just shrugged.

"So we have to find them from no direction's whatsoever," Yolei said, summing it up in just a couple of words.

"Yep," muttered Armadillomon.

"Great."

Native Forest, File Island Fragment

Tai finally calmed down when there were no more rocks to throw. He was panting hard, the slime sliding off him, slowly. Kari had fallen asleep; Gatomon curled up beside her head. Agumon was sat up watching his human partner.

"Tai?" he said tentatively. Tai seemed to snap back to reality. He looked at Agumon and sat down, putting his head in his hands.

"What's wrong with me Agumon?" Tai said, afraid. "I don't usual act like this… do I?"

Agumon put a hand on Tai's shoulder and assured him, "You never act like this Tai."

"So why am I acting this way now?" Tai said.

"I don't know Tai," muttered Agumon. Then Agumon had a realisation and hit Tai on the head again.

"You're doing it again!" he snapped. "You're beating yourself up about Sora."

"At the moment you're the one beating me up," joked Tai, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm serious Tai!"

"So am I at the moment."

"If you don't stop being so sorry for yourself I'm going to have to bite you."

"If that's one of your normal bites you'll eat me."

"Well it's good to see you're being happy again."

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

T.K. had managed to stagger to his feet. He walked through the snow and fire, Patamon resting on his head. He could hear the sounds of hunting digimon behind him, and he staggered a little faster.

He finally spotted shelter, a cave hewn into the rock by hand. T.K. wasn't even concerned that there might be evil digimon in there; he just wanted to lie down. He collapsed in a heap when he was just inside the cave. Patamon rolled off his head and curled up beside his partner.

When T.K. awoke, the fire had been put out and he was feeling better. The pain in his side had lessened and he could stand up easier. He looked out behind him and his jaw dropped. The thick white snow he had seen before was now covered in a thick layer of soot and ash. The trees were reduced to blackened stumps and the few digimon he had seen before, he could tell that they had been deleted.

"What could have done this?" T.K. asked in horror. He clenched his fist and locked his jaw.

"Devimon," answered a voice by T.K.'s feet. He looked down and saw Patamon.

"What'd you say buddy?" T.K. asked, crouching down and picking Patamon up under the stomach.

"Devimon's back," croaked Patamon. "He's digivolved."

T.K. nearly dropped Patamon. Devimon? Back? It wasn't possible. Izzy had assured him after the Kimeramon incident Devimon was gone for good. T.K. shivered at the thought of what Devimon had done before, when they had first come to the digital world.

"No," T.K. whispered. He took a step back. Patamon had been deleted by Devimon, and T.K. did not want to go through that again.

"Well, well," growled a voice from outside. T.K. spun round and winced from the pain in his side.

"You look like you've been through the mills," chipped GrandisKuwagamon. The tall mechanical looking digimon beat his insect wings slightly.

"Don't worry T.K.," Patamon groaned. "I'll protect you."

"Patamon you don't look like you can even fly," T.K. muttered.

"I have to try T.K.," muttered Patamon. T.K. nodded stiffly, and watched as Patamon was wrapped in golden light.

"Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"

Temple Labyrinth, File Island Fragment

"Horn Buster!" roared MegaKabuterimon. The bolt of orange lightning flew from the trident like horn on top of MegaKabuterimon's head.

The MedievalDukemon that stood in the entrance was forced to take a step back, but he still stood there, smirking.

"Final Crest!" bellowed the knight. He thrust his palm towards the insect before him and an inverted pentagram hovered before his hand, before it shot off and embedded itself in MegaKabuterimon's head.

"Arrrrgh!" bellowed MegaKabuterimon, collapsing in a heap before Izzy.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" roared Zudomon, slamming his hammer down on the ground. An arrow shaped blast of energy flew at MedievalDukemon. The attack forced him to take a step back, but otherwise was unharmed.

"Nice shot," muttered the axe wielding digimon. "Now it's my turn. Rage of Wyvern!"

He swung his axe a Zudomon. The attack struck with such force that it threw Zudomon at the opposite wall, where he stayed, shivering.

"Spiking Strike!" yelled Stingmon diving down at the Mega digimon before him.

"Grand Horn!" bellowed Aquilamon following suit. The two attacks struck at MedievalDukemon, but he was unaffected. He threw and iron clad punch at Stingmon, and drove an elbow into Aquilamon.

The two digimon were thrown to the ground and lay there. Izzy looked up at MedievalGallantmon and a dark scowl crossed the prodigy's face.

Toy Town, File Island Fragment

"Amemit!" bellowed the three Anubismon. The trio of fire streams struck CyberGarurumon square in the face and sent him sprawling.

"Alliance Laser!" bellowed the mechanical wolf, raising his laser arm and firing a stream of icy-blue energy.

The three mega digimon dodged out of the way of the attack with ease and raised their arms.

"Pyramid Power!" they yelled. The three triangular beams of energy struck the wolf like digimon sending him deeper into the earth.

"Come on CyberGarurumon," growled Matt. "These digimon need to be taught a lesson."

Yokomon Village, Gear Savannah, File Island Fragment

"Flower Cannon!" yelled Lillymon, pressing her hands together and firing a green bullet at the Phantomon before her.

The ghost like digimon dived aside and raised the eye like pendent around his neck and yelled, "Father Time!"

The attack blasted Lillymon to the ground, the ground rocking with the force of the impact.

"Shadow Scythe!" yelled two new Phantomon who had joined the fight. The twin slivers of black energy blasted Lillymon in the back.

"Get up Lillymon!" screamed Mimi out of fear as well as concern. She looked up at the three Phantomon, a look of pure hatred on her face and added, "These bully's need to be put away."

Primary Village, File Island Fragment

"Crimson Flame!" yelled Hououmon. A spurt of red fire flew from her open beak. Dinorexmon moved with a speed disproportionate to his size.

"Nice," chuckled the dinosaur digimon. "But not good enough. Ogre Flame!"

The aiming was precise on all accounts. Every one of the hideous green grenades struck Hououmon. She screeched in agony and nearly dropped from the skies.

"Hold on Hououmon," Sora muttered looking at Dinorexmon. "This guy hasn't beaten us yet."

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

MagnaAngemon slammed against the blackened rock, gasping for breath.

"This looks like it's almost over," chuckled GrandisKuwagamon. "Grandis Scissors!"

He leapt a MagnaAngemon, driving a double-footed kick into the stomach of the angelic digimon. MagnaAngemon yelled in pain, drops of blood trickling from his lips.

T.K. looked up at GrandisKuwagamon and anger boiled up inside him.

Temple Labyrinth, File Island Fragment

"That's it," Izzy growled.

Toy Town, File Island Fragment

"That does it," snarled Matt.

Yokomon Village, File Island Fragment

"You're going to pay," spat Mimi.

Primary Village, File Island Fragment

"You're so going down," hissed Sora.

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

"This ends now!" roared T.K.

Temple Labyrinth, File Island Fragment

"MegaKabuterimon digivolve to… HerculesKabuterimon!"

Izzy looked up at his new, Mega level partner. Then he smiled.

"Go get him."

"With pleasure," HerculesKabuterimon snarled. "Giga Scissor Claw!"

The insect digimon slashed at MedievalGallantmon with his left claws, leaving a deep scratch in the knight's armour.

Toy Town, File Island Fragment

"Get them!" yelled Matt.

"Sure thing Matt," chuckled CyberGarurumon. "Comrade Missile!"

The long line of missiles flew straight at the centre Anubismon so fat the digimon didn't have time to react. The explosion filled the street with smoke, and a high-pitched scream of agony.

Yokomon Village, File Island Fragment

"Lillymon digivolve to… Rosemon!"

Mimi looked up at her Mega level digimon friend. She smiled then laughed.

"Take 'em out," Mimi smiled.

"Oh yeah," grinned Rosemon. "Rose Spear!"

She pointed her thorny whip at the lead Phantomon and it straightened out, passing straight through the digimon destroying him instantly.

Primary Village, File Island Fragment

"Don't you dare give in!" yelled Sora.

"Don't worry Sora, I wasn't planning to," Hououmon replied. "Star-Light Explosion!"

The huge bird-like digimon flapped her wings several times in a slow steady rhythm. Drops of golden rain fell from her wings and onto Dinorexmon.

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

"You are nothing!" yelled T.K. GrandisKuwagamon looked at him, a look of puzzlement on his face. "You heard me! Picking on innocent digimon like this, it's wrong! It's twisted! Well you're not going to do it any more! Do you hear me!"

"Oh I hear you alright," GrandisKuwagamon snarled. "I think you should be the next to be deleted."

"Don't you dare hurt T.K.," snarled MagnaAngemon staggering to his feet.

"Or what?" GrandisKuwagamon asked, driving a knee at MagnaAngemon. The Ultimate digimon dodged the attack and punched GrandisKuwagamon in the face.

"Or that," snarled the angelic digimon, as he was enveloped in a golden light. "MagnaAngemon digivolve to… Seraphimon!"

T.K. looked up at Seraphimon, a look of awe in his face. Then he grinned.

"Wipe him out!" he yelled.

"Oh yeah," Seraphimon agreed. "Strike of the Seven Stars!"

The seven spheres of super heated sacred light, flew at the already reeling GrandisKuwagamon, and destroyed him.

"That's what I'm talking about!" yelled T.K., punching the air, forgetting the pain in his side.

Andromon Factory, File Island Fragment

ExVeemon slammed against the side of the factory and dedigivolved back into Veemon.

"That wasn't even a challenge," said ShadowWereGarurumon. He looked down at Davis, who was crouching beside his fallen partner. "You're coming with us, goggle-head."

He leaned over, and plucked Davis off the ground, leaving Veemon in a heap.

"The first digidestined captured I would say," chuckled the black wolf.

To be continued…


	9. The Silence of The Shadow

**Digimon Adventure**

**X**

Episode Nine: The Silence of The Shadow

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

Davis awoke to a stiff pain in his back. He thought at first that he was beside everyone else, sleeping near the campfire. Then he remembered. The attack, File Island shattered, his capture. The ShadowWereGarurumon who had captured him had only breathed on him and he was knocked out. That made him think about T.K. and Tai. What had happened to them?

"You know if you keep lying there I may just have to blow you apart," muttered a demonic voice from near his left. Davis jumped and looked around. DevilDevimon was sat there in a throne made of solid obsidian.

"Oh so you are alive," he chuckled. "I thought I would have to disintegrate you there. Don't worry, you won't be lonely for long I'm sure."

Davis didn't answer. He was too busy praying for all he was worth that DevilDevimon was wrong.

Native Forest, File Island Fragment

Tai, Kari, Agumon and Gatomon were stood at the edge of their segment of File Island. Infinity Mountain stood tall before them, moving slowly away from them. Tai glanced to his left, then his right. All of the other fragments of File Island were moving away from them, slowly but surely.

"You know we're not achieving anything just standing here," said Agumon at last. Tai didn't answer. "Tai? Hello, anyone home?"

Tai shook his head. He was thinking on what his first move should be. Obviously DevilDevimon was the grand master in control of File Island and so had to be taken out. But after what Kari had said, he had taken out CyberGarurumon as if he was nothing.

"What should we do Tai?" Kari asked.

"We should find the others," Tai said at last. "Starting with T.K."

Kari nodded and looked at Gatomon.

"Lets do this Kari," she purred. Kari brought out her pink D-3 and pointed it at Gatomon. The cat like digimon was enveloped in a golden light and she purred even stronger.

"Gatomon digivolve to… Angewomon!"

The angelic digimon looked down at Kari and grinned.

"Ready Agumon?" Tai said looking down at his digimon partner. The orange dinosaur nodded and Tai drew out his golden D-3 and pointed it at him.

"Agumon Ex Warp digivolve to… MagmaGreymon!"

Tai gingerly climbed onto his partner's back, careful not to step entirely in the molten lava skin. Kari quickly climbed up to Angewomon's shoulder and looked across at Tai. Tai nodded and looked down at his golden D-3. There were several digivice signals all around them. His eye's honed in on the light yellow signal t on the other side of Infinity Mountain.

"Let's go Kari," Tai said. MagmaGreymon nodded and beat his bat-like wings hard, sending up miniature tornadoes of dust as he took to the air, followed swiftly by Kari.

Freezeland, File Island Fragment

T.K. was lying asleep, Tokomon curled up beside him. The forest outside was blackened and more like a line twigs than a forest. T.K. stirred and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He glanced at Tokomon beside him and smiled. He still couldn't believe that he had pushed it to the Mega level.

The green D-3 beside him suddenly bleeped. He looked down at it and saw two digivice signals headed straight at him, followed by a swarm of red digimon signals.

"Tokomon," T.K. said, nudging his partner. "We've got company."

Net Ocean, Above File Island

"Blazing Nova!" bellowed MagmaGreymon, the sphere of blazing flames flying straight at the swarm of Kuwagamon. Several of the insect digimon ducked the attack but it was so large by that time, that half of them were consumed by the flames anyway.

"Celestial Arrow!" yelled Angewomon pointing a gloved finger at a line of Kuwagamon. A blindingly bright arrow was shot towards them, impaling each one in a row.

"Nice shot!" yelled Kari.

"Thanks!" yelled Angewomon. Kari looked up and saw MagmaGreymon swiping a crystal claw at a trio of Kuwagamon.

"Nice work MagmaGreymon!" yelled Tai. MagmaGreymon seemed to reply, when groups of the Kuwagamon came together, their data flowing into one another's.

"Kuwagamon digivolve to… MaxGranKuwagamon!"

Tai looked at the four digimon before him. They looked like Kuwagamon, but more humanoid. They had six arms each, two ending in vicious looking sickles. Their skin was a pale grey, and their insect mouths were open hungrily.

"Dimensional Sickle Slash!" yelled the digimon in synchrony. They crossed their sickles over in an 'x' shape and swiped. Black 'x' shaped crosses of energy flew at MagmaGreymon and Angewomon.

"There's too many of them!" Tai yelled at Kari as their digimon partners dived aside of the attacks. "Their all Master level!"

"How are we going to beat them then?" Kari screamed back.

"We're not," Tai muttered to himself.

Seraphimon moved with god-like speed. T.K. couldn't even see where they were going; his eyes were filled with tears from the wind. He tried yelling something to Seraphimon, but his voice was lost in the wind. He prodded Seraphimon in the chink in his armour, and the angelic digimon slowed.

"What?" he said looking over his shoulder at T.K.

"I thought we should go a bit slower," T.K. said. He had to repeat himself, his voice was so hoarse.

"I thought you wanted to find Kari?" Seraphimon said steadily.

"I know. I want her to know I'm okay. But I can't really do that if I fall off your back and die."

"Point taken."

T.K. chuckled at his own joke then looked up. He saw that now there were only four digimon facing Kari and Tai. But these digimon looked more lethal, deadly and blood hungry.

"Let's go Seraphimon," T.K. said. "Only not at the speed of light this time?"

Andromon Factory, File Island Fragment

It had been a quick embrace that had passed between Sora and Matt, their lips brushing briefly. Then they looked up at the blazing factory before them.

"Who could do such a thing?" Sora said, nearly in tears.

"DevilDevimon that's who," Matt spat. He clenched his fist and locked his jaw, in what Gabumon later described as a very 'Tai-like' manner.

"Is there still time to stop the fire?" Biyomon asked.

"What's the point?" Matt snapped. "There's no one left to save!"

Net Ocean, Above File Island

Rosemon, Stingmon and HerculesKabuterimon flew side by side. Izzy and the rest of the digidestined sat on the back of HerculesKabuterimon, looking up at Infinity Mountain. Izzy looked at his digivice praying that he had been wrong. But the pulsing light blue signal was still at the top of the mountain.

"Okay we all know the plan," Izzy said looking behind him at the rest of the digidestined. "We go in, we find Davis, we get out. That's it. No stunt man jobs here. If you see DevilDevimon, run for it."

The other digidestined nodded in agreement and Izzy turned his gaze back to Infinity Mountain.

"Let's just hope this is easy," he muttered to himself.

Net Ocean, Above File Island

Angewomon flew through attacks from the impossibly strong digimon before her. They were too many in numbers. MagmaGreymon was fighting two at a time, the other two making sport of her.

"We can't beat them!" yelled Angewomon. "Not without more help!"

Kari didn't hear her. The wind was strong in her face and she was too busy concentrating on where the other digimon were. Meanwhile Tai was cursing himself for his stupidity.

"Why did we go over Infinity Mountain?" he questioned himself. "I should have guessed he'd have guards here."

"Tai," croaked MagmaGreymon. "There's just too many of them and I don't have the strength to keep this up."

Tai's eyes instinctively looked down. He couldn't make out the individual waves, the water looking more like a single mass of blue land. Tai didn't know much about science, but he could tell from this height, that water might as well be concrete.

"Just hold on," Tai said in his ear. He looked back at the water again and shivered. He couldn't really help anyone if he was a splattered mess on the water. A golden light enveloped the edge of Tai's vision.

He looked fearfully at MagmaGreymon, thinking it was his partner who had fallen to weariness. But as his gaze flashed passed the Master level digimon he saw Gatomon and his sister falling to the ocean below them.

"Kari!" Tai screamed, almost jumping after her, MagmaGreymon just managing to catch. This single, protective motion opened a gate for the two digimon before them.

"Catastrophic Swarm!" they yelled in synchrony. They opened their insect mouths opened and a swarm of tiny parasites flew from the open holes, embedding themselves in MagmaGreymon's chest. Before Tai had time to react, he and Agumon were falling faster than he could've believed possible.

He opened his mouth to scream, but the wind knocked the air from him. The wind flipped him over, and he was looking down at the ocean below him, rushing up to meet him. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look. Then without warning, something gripped the hood of Tai' jacket. Tai opened his eyes.

The sea was inches from his nose, watery spay catching him in the face every so often. He looked up and the digimon that met his eyes was not one he had been expecting. Ten golden wings extended from his back, his face hidden by a metal helmet with a golden cross on it. The silver and blue armour that covered the digimon's body looked almost impenetrable.

"Um, okay," Tai said, regaining his breath. "You can pull me up if you want. Or hey, you could let my hood rip, drop me in the ocean. Hey are you listening to me?"

The digimon took a breath and said, "Sorry, came in a hurry. Just had to get my breath back. Up you come."

Tai was lifted onto the digimon's back, and he took a shaky breath. He then looked up and saw Kari, her arms wrapped around…

"T.K.," Tai whispered, shaking his head. "Should've guessed."

Gatomon was sat beside Kari, poking in the chinks the Mega digimon's armour.

"Ahem," Tai gave a fake cough to try and get the other's attentions. When that didn't work, Tai tried another approach. "Hey, I'm alive as well you know!"

T.K. and Kari broke apart instantly, Kari giving Tai a scolding look.

"Okay, okay," Kari said. "Sheesh, calm down Tai."

"I'll calm down Kari, after we beat the crap outta' DevilDevimon," Tai snapped.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

DevilDevimon played with the D-3 in his hands. It was a small device, with some incredible power in it. A power that could help digimon digivolve. If he could tap into the power of the D-3, he could have an infinite army, of infinitely strong digimon.

"What gives you power?" DevilDevimon questioned the digivice. "What gives you the ability to help digimon digivolve? Who made such a device? What other powers do you hold?"

A brilliant white light shone in DevilDevimon's eyes. He yelled out in alarm and dropped the digivice. A small holographic human figure appeared to be standing on the D-3.

"You have stolen rightful property of the digidestined," said the figure, his voice radiating power and authority. "Punishment shall be dealt to you in due course. This is the word, of The Herald."

With that the figure that had identified itself as 'The Herald' disappeared in a flash of white light followed swiftly by a flash of black light. It happened so fast, that it appeared to be a single flash, of the purest grey light.

"What was that?" DevilDevimon asked himself, looking slightly shocked. Then he recovered himself, and smiled. "No matter. This, 'Herald' is no match for my power."

As DevilDevimon ranted to himself, Davis groaned.

"Either kill me or torture me but please don't bore me to death," he moaned.

"Shut up you," ordered DevilDevimon.

Base of Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

T.K. and Kari looked up towards the Peak of Infinity Mountain. Gatomon was curled beside her partners lap and Patamon sat on T.K.'s head as usual. Tai was crouched down beside Agumon, a look of concern on his face.

"You okay buddy?" Tai said looking into Agumon's face, a hand on his shoulder. Agumon looked at Tai and took a deep breath before replying.

"I've been better, I'll tell you that Tai," he said with a shaky breath. "If I had just been a little stronger…"

"Agumon you were looking out for me," Tai said looking his partner in the eye. "I don't blame you. If anything I bla-"

"Don't even say that," Agumon snapped. "It wasn't your fault."

"But it was," Tai said. "I was stupid enough not to think that DevilDevimon didn't have guards above Infinity Mountain. If we had gone around then maybe-"

"I'm going to have to bite you soon," Agumon growled.

"Okay, okay buddy," Tai said, holding his hands up in mock defeat.

"Good," Agumon said, looking slightly happier, "Good to see you've got you're head on straight."

Tai nodded and straightened up. He looked behind him at his sister and T.K. He walked over to them and looked up to the mountain peak.

"So that's where we're going," Tai said. T.K. nodded.

"We'll be going the old fashioned way though," the grey-hatted teen replied. "Patamon is way too tired to digivolve again."

"And Gatomon is exhausted from her battle today," Kari explained. "Unless Agumon's ready to digivolve, I think we're walking."

Tai looked at Agumon and shook his head.

"That last attack by those scumbag digimon wiped Agumon out," Tai said. "I don't want him to digivolve unless it's absolutely necessary."

"So it's settled," Gatomon said from beside Kari's feet. "We're walking."

Tai looked up to the peak of the mountain and clenched his fist.

'Get ready DevilDevimon,' Tai thought to himself. 'We're coming for you.'

Andromon Factory, File Island Fragment

Veemon was limping badly. His right arm was hanging slightly. His vision was blurring but he couldn't give in. He needed to find Davis. Those cowardly ShadowWereGarurumon couldn't have taken him too far.

He looked up the hill and saw a group of figures standing there, as if looking for something. Veemon summoned up his will. If they were enemy digimon, he was going down fighting. That's what Davis would've wanted.

"Vee-Headbutt!" yelled the small blue digimon. He threw himself forward with all his might. He flew towards the group, catching them by surprise, but they still managed to move out of the way. Veemon landed on the ground and grunted with pain, and looked up at the group he had attacked.

He must've blacked out, because the next thing he knew, he was lying limp in Sora's arms.

"Veemon," she exclaimed happily. "You're awake."

"Sora," he replied groggily.

"Well his brain hasn't been affected," Matt said as he leaned over the only semi-conscious Veemon.

"Matt," Veemon croaked. "They… took… Davis."

"What?" Biyomon breathed. "Who did?"

"Some… of DevilDevimon's… cronies," Veemon answered. Sora looked at Matt and he nodded.

"Let's get him," Gabumon said.

Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

"Don't look down," Kari told herself as she scaled the side of Infinity Mountain. "Don't look down and you'll be okay. Just don't look down."

Gatomon pounced past her and sat on a ledge above Kari.

"Why do you keep telling yourself that Kari?" the little cat digimon asked. "I mean what happens if you do look down?"

"I'm trying not to think about it," Kari growled.

T.K. glanced down and looked at Kari, not even noticing the sheer fifty-metre drop below him.

"What's up Kari?" he yelled down to her. Tai looked and shook his head.

"A: it's her first time climbing Infinity Mountain," Tai said. "B: Kari's always had a bit of a problem with heights."

T.K. looked at Tai, a frown on his face and said, "But she's never acted this way when we went climbed ropes in gym class. Or when we went rock climbing."

"Yeah but in both cases," Tai said, "There was either a crash matt below her, or she was in a safety harness."

T.K. thought about this for a second. It made sense. Kari hadn't exactly been that keen to climb that weird rope at Pidemon's castle. But he thought that had been because they were kids.

"Should I go talk to her?" T.K. asked Tai.

"Nah," Tai said grinning. "Kari always has a way of managing the situation."

T.K. looked at Kari again. He could hear her whispering to herself over and over again, but he couldn't exactly hear the words.

"You sure about that Tai?" T.K. said tentatively. Tai looked at him with an odd expression. T.K. though he was going to yell at him but what he said instead surprised him.

"If you wanna' chat her up just do it," he said. T.K. spluttered as Tai continued. "I mean I'd rather it be you than someone like Davis, who in a confidential sense, I would never trust Kari with on a date."

Before T.K. could even fully comprehend what Tai had said, the brunette had already scaled out of earshot.

"What's up with you?" Kari asked looking at T.K. puzzled.

"Nothing," T.K. said looked back at Kari. "But I wish you'd told me about your vertigo. I could've persuaded Tai to wait until-"

"T.K," Kari said, putting a finger to his lips. "You underestimate this gals will to succeed. Plus you'd never have gotten Tai to wait for me."

"But you've got-"

"I know. And so does Tai. He also knows that it's only a slight case of vertigo. I can handle it. But you're sweet for caring."

She stood up on tiptoes and kissed T.K. on the right cheek. She giggled and climbed past T.K. muttering to herself once again. T.K. moved his right arm and touched the spot to where Kari had kissed him.

"Wow," he whispered. Then his face split into a wide grin and he turned and climbed up Infinity Mountain, a new gusto propelling him on.

"Okay why'd you go and say that?" Agumon said looking at Tai. Tai shrugged.

"It's obvious that T.K. and Kari both like each other," Tai said. "I just got board of waiting for them to get together. They belong with each other."

Agumon grinned.

"What?"

"Aren't you the little cupid."

Tai turned scarlet and climbed past him 'accidentally' placing his foot on his partners face, rather than on the outcrops of rock around him.

"Well here we are guys," said Izzy slipping off HerculesKabuterimon's back and onto the stony earth below him. "Infinity Mountain."

"Don't look like a place where an evil villain would hang out," Yolei said looking sceptically at Izzy.

"Well it's not the exact location obviously," Izzy said looking at Yolei as if she was stupid. "We can't fly any higher because of DevilDevimon's guards. We don't want him to know we're here so soon. And this is also the lowest outcrop outside DevilDevimon's guard range that can fit HerculesKabuterimon."

"Great," Yolei muttered. "So we have to climb the rest of the way?"

"It's not so bad," Gomamon said sliding off HerculesKabuterimon. "Me and Joe climbed the entire thing from the bottom straight up in one night."

"Yeah," Joe agreed. "So starting from the middle it should take a couple of hours at the most."

"Yeah but don't we have to wait until our digimon recover?" Cody said as HerculesKabuterimon dedigivolved into Motimon. "I mean out only Mega level digimon has now become an in-training."

"Point taken," Izzy said nodding at Cody's point. "Okay we're camping here tonight."

"Good," said a voice from below them, making them all jump. "I needed a rest."

Izzy looked down at the source of the voice. His face split in a wide grin as he saw it was Tai, covered in dirt and something golden, and sticky.

As Izzy reached down to grab Tai, a gloating laugh shook the mountainside.

To be continued…


	10. Fire, Ice, Darkness

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Episode Ten: Fire, Ice, Darkness

Net Ocean, Above File Island

Sora and Matt flew over Net Ocean with huge speed on Birdramon's back. Matt had pointed out that they would get to Infinity Mountain a lot faster if Birdramon digivolved but Sora wanted her to save her strength.

"We have to be ready to fight DevilDevimon," she said to Matt, as Veemon slept on her lap. Matt nodded knowing Sora was right. But he was on edge. That cold heartless laugh that had emanated from Infinity Mountain. It was evil. That was the only way he could describe it. DevilDevimon was challenging them to the fight of their lives.

Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

The digidestined looked up at the Peak of Infinity Mountain. No one spoke. No one moved. It had been this way for almost a whole hour, just waiting. Waiting for the silence to end. But that was like waiting for Christmas to come early. Not goanna happen.

Tai cleared his throat, making everyone jump.

"This is getting us nowhere," Tai said, his voice hoarse from the silence they had been enduring. "Whatever DevilDevimon's laughin' about up there, it can't be good."

Izzy nodded but didn't say anything. No one spoke for a couple of minutes. The silence was starting to become palpable.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

DevilDevimon held the Last Moment of Light in his skeletal fingers. One of the greatest weapons used by The Dark One in his battle against the original digidestined. This would absorb all light from a set area, plunging that part of the world into perpetual darkness. Darkness. His domain. How would the digidestined fair in the silence and the shadows? There was to be only one way to find out.

"This shall soon be an isle of shadows," said The Shadow to himself. "Soon, the digidestined shall fall in the nightmares of their own silence and I shall destroy them."

Davis looked up at the sphere in DevilDevimon's hands. It glowed with the last light of the day, as day turned into night.

"You just love to monologue don't you," Davis said looking at the freakish digimon beside him.

"I'm beginning to contemplate letting you go."

Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

Tai shook his head. This was getting ridicules. How could they keep on staring at the top of Infinity Mountain and not do anything? It just wasn't possible. He looked at Agumon, expecting him to be looking at the top of Infinity Mountain as well. But he wasn't there. He looked up the rock face beside them and saw Agumon scaling it like it was coated in glue.

Tai began to open his mouth then looked around. His voice was certain to carry in the silence quite a distance. He strode up to the rock face and began to climb it, soon catching up with Agumon.

"What's up with the others?" Tai said looking afraid. "They haven't moved or said anything in over and hour."

"DevilDevimon has them under a sense of trance," Agumon explained. "As long as they stay on Infinity Mountain, they can't move, speak or do anything of their own free will. And they can't be moved either by other people."

"So how come I'm not effected?" Tai said looking sceptical.

"The Star of Destiny," Agumon said. "I don't know how I know so much about this but it all seems hardwired into my head."

Tai looked at his friends and then said, "How come you're not affected?"

Agumon shrugged and continued climbing. Tai took one last glance at his friends, then followed Agumon.

'You are so going to pay for this DevilDevimon,' Tai thought to himself. 'Mark my words.'

Peak of Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

Matt and Sora stood on top of a large plateau, Gabumon and Biyomon standing a little way behind. They were looking for the lair of DevilDevimon. Veemon's arms were draped around Sora's neck, hanging limply off her back.

Matt began walking over to the mountain rock searching for anything that looked like an evil villains hideout. He peaked looked behind a huge pile of rocks and spotted and long, black, temple like structure.

"Sora," Matt hissed. Sora looked at him. "I found it."

Sora's eyes widened, and she raised a quivering finger to a space above Matt's head. He turned around, as a skeletal black hand cracked him one around the right hand side of his face. He flew thirty feet to the left and landed too close to the edge than he would've liked.

The pain was so intense that Matt blacked out for a few seconds. When he regained consciousness, Hououmon was in a death grip from DevilDevimon and CyberGarurumon wasn't fairing much better, barely able to get a shot in because of The Shadow's impossible speed.

Sora was crouched beside him, a worried look in her eyes.

"I'm fine Sora," he managed to croak.

Sora gave a force smile then turned back to look at the battle. Matt got slowly to his feet, and clenched his fist. DevilDevimon was going to pay for what he had done. As he thought this he felt a hand grip his ankle. He yelped and looked down, as the ghostly hand of DevilDevimon threw him off the side of Infinity Mountain.

Matt heard Sora scream, but he wasn't listening. He had no idea how tall Infinity Mountain was, how far before he hit the first outcrop. All he knew was that he was not going to survive.

Something caught his arm, jerking it fiercely. He looked up, knowing he had fallen too far for Sora top catch him, expecting some gruesome digimon who would eat him with a side of fries. Instead he saw a more friendly face.

"You so owe me Matt," Tai said cracking a wide grin that was spoiled by the dirt, sweat and sticky golden stuff that covered him. Matt opened his mouth to say something, but Tai immediately said, "Don't ask. I've had one hell, of a crazy day."

"You look like it too," Matt chuckled. Tai said nothing, but grunted as he pulled Matt back to the side of Infinity Mountain.

"Now let's get that freakish son of a bitch," Tai said, giving Matt a dark smile.

"You got it," Matt said, and climbed up the mountainside, Tai following close behind. Matt reached the top of the mountain soon after Agumon, Tai just after. Before Sora could even take a step towards Matt both he and Tai ran towards DevilDevimon, Agumon already digivolving behind them.

"Agumon Ex Warp digivolve to… MagmaGreymon!"

The magma skinned digimon launched himself at DevilDevimon, who was caught completely by surprise by the arrival of a second Master level digimon.

"Blazing Nova!" yelled the digimon before The Shadow. A sphere of fire flew at DevilDevimon and struck him in the chest, sending him flying.

"Nice to see you here," CyberGarurumon chuckled.

"Couldn't you have come a little sooner," choked Hououmon. "I nearly died there."

"Black Decimation!" bellowed DevilDevimon. The sphere of darkness flew at the group of three digimon. They immediately dodged out of the way and prepared to attack.

"Comrade Missile!"

"Crimson Flame!"

"Hell-Fire Eruption!"

The three attacks combined in one mighty explosion, shards of ice and drops of magma and flame falling all over the place.

"Whoa," Sora gasped as she saw what their digimon had done. The height of the fire was even taller than that of the one that had scorched Arkadimon.

"I doubt that stopped him," Tai muttered. Matt looked at him and laughed.

"You're so paranoid, there is no way he could've survived that," Matt said indicating the raging inferno before them. And the DevilDevimon rose up from the flames.

"Well that stung," snarled the monstrous digimon before them. He raised his hand and a sphere of pale light appeared there. "Last Moment of Light!"

He threw the sphere at the digidestined and it blossomed into darkness.

?

A cold wind whipped at Sora's hair. She shuddered and gasped, wrapping her arms around herself. This wasn't Infinity Mountain.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked herself. She looked around, but all she could see was a dark grey mist.

"Where am I?" she screamed.

Matt couldn't see anything. Darkness pressed on him from all sides. Then the darkness was replaced by a tall imposing figure. He was dressed in what at first glance appeared to be black leather. However it was crisscrossed with blue pulsing lines of energy, all leading to a symbol on the chest of the figure standing before him. Two crescent moon shaped objects, points facing inwards, and a long grey strip down the centre giving the impression of an eye.

He had a black biking helmet on, so Matt couldn't see his face, and the lens was tinted black, so that his eyes were also hidden.

"Who, are you?" Matt croaked. The figure bent over and gripped Matt by the chin.

"I, am The Ranger," said the figure.

Izzy found himself staring into darkness. It wasn't the strange darkness he had seen envelope Infinity Mountain. More of an after hours in a museum kind of darkness.

He stepped forward, reaching out with one hand to touch a smooth stonewall, feeling for a light switch. He finally found it and flipped it up. As the lights came on Izzy looked up in front of him and screamed.

There was fire all around Mimi. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. The fire was enveloping a town of digimon. A tall black clad figure stood in the heart of the flames letting it run up and down his body. He seemed to be embracing it.

His body had blue lines of power pulsing all over it, all leading to a strange, eye like symbol.

Davis shuddered, then looked around him. Surprisingly the first person he saw was Ken. Ken looked at Davis a frown on his face.

"Are you part of my hallucination or is it the other way round?" Ken asked looking slightly confused. Davis shook his head before answering.

"I think it's a shared little day dream we've got going," he said looking around.

"Well if it is, it's based more on your mind," Ken joked, indicating the swirling emptiness around them.

Kari clutched T.K.'s at chest. The blonde haired boy slipped an arm around her, pulling her close. He didn't like what ever was going on. Shadows leapt at them, clawing at them, trying to tear them. T.K. raised his free arm and slapped away one of these shadowy arms.

It's claws sunk deep into his skin. T.K. screamed and wrenched his hand away.

A leering clown face loomed out at Izzy, with a demonic, twisted smile. Izzy shook himself all over, getting the shock out of him. The computer genius had never been a huge fan of clowns.

"What sort of freak keeps this in his home?" Izzy asked himself looking around. For the first time he noticed where he was. It wasn't a house, or a hotel, or any sort of secure building whatsoever. It was a big top. A circus tent. Izzy groaned. Not only was he in a here with a strange clown statue, he was practically in the home of clowns.

"Miraculous isn't it?" said a cool, dark voice from behind him. Izzy spun around and saw the last thing he ever wanted to see. A clown digimon.

The Ranger's fist slammed into the side of Matt's face. Matt flew over thirty feet before skidding a further five on the hard ground.

"You're pathetic Yamato," The Ranger chuckled, picking the only half conscious Matt up by the jaw. "I don't know what other people see in you. A has bin rock star. Your music sucks almost as much as you do."

Matt growled at the insult.

"Bite me," he hissed, punching The Ranger in the shoulder. The Black clad figure chuckled before slamming Matt's face into the dirt.

"You seriously need to understand the situation here," The Ranger growled. "You are a weed. I am the weed hacker. Do you see the image I'm painting here?"

Matt groaned as The Ranger lifted him back up so Matt could see into his eyeless visor. Matt summoned up some small defiance in him and spat. The small drops of spit landed on The Ranger's shoulder.

The black clad warrior of death kneed Matt in the jaw. Matt flew into the air for what seemed like an eternity. Then The Ranger grabbed his ankle and began swinging Matt round and round above his head, before throwing him to the hard ground below.

"Stop this madness!" yelled a strong voice from the rooftop of one of the taller building. Mimi looked up and saw a blue armoured digimon, with a long flowing red cape, and storey high claws jump to the streets. The black clad figure tilted his head and looked at the digimon.

"I am MirageGaogamon!" the digimon proclaimed. "Who are you?"

The figure stayed silent before replying, "My name is of no concern to you. You're going to feel my wrath none the less."

T.K. clutched at the wound in his arm. Kari's eyes leaked tears and held onto T.K. even tighter. T.K. felt like his arm was on fire. He gripped it even tighter than before hoping to stop the pain.

But now a denser shadow loomed before them. It slashed down with blackened claws. They raked across T.K.'s chest. He screamed in agony and Kari's nails bit into him she was holding him so tight.

The cold winds picked up even more now, and Sora's breath crystallized in front of her. Sora felt it clutch at her heart. She gasped. This wasn't a normal winter breeze. This was evil.

"Finally got it have we?" said a cold voice from behind her. She spun around and saw a dark shape fly at her. She ducked it and it hit the floor. She looked at it, then realized it was Matt.

"Matt!" she yelled. She dropped beside him and looked into his face. There were dark bruises forming all over it.

"What'd you do to him!" she yelled at the thing behind her.

"I beat the crap outta him, what's it look like?" chuckled the voice with a merciless sneer. She looked and saw a tall imposing black clad figure standing there. "You're lucky he's still alive… just."

Peak of Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

Something hard slammed into Matt's forehead. He yelled in pain and clutched at his throbbing head. Somewhere close by another person seemed to be doing the same thing. Matt shook his head and looked through the darkness to the dancing light before him. Wait. Light?

"If I had even a clue that your head was that hard, I would've gone with the punch," said Tai, standing in the small circle of light, in what seemed to be a sea of darkness.

"Why did you head butt me in the first place?" Matt snapped, grabbing Tai by the collar.

"I tried waking you up with a tap to the shoulder but it didn't work," Tai explained.

"What do you mean, wake me up?" Matt asked not letting go of Tai's collar.

"DevilDevimon put you in a trance. The Star of Destiny saved me from it. And I could use it to wake you up. One catch. It wasn't the star that had to make contact. It was me. And I still need to wake Sora up."

"You even think about punching her!"

"I have to go through the options first!"

"What are the options?"

"One, a tap on the shoulder, even though it doesn't work. Two, and even I don't want to admit this one, a hug-"

"You even dare."

"Matt. Option three a kiss on the forehead."

"I mean it Tai."

"Four Matt is where I start to slap her."

Matt seemed to be a little more concerned. He didn't want Sora to remain like this forever. But the only options Tai seemed to have given him was a useless tap on a shoulder, Tai trying to score one with Sora or beating her to a pulp.

"One hug then," Matt sighed defeated. "But if that doesn't work and only if, then you can kiss her."

Tai nodded, and for the first time Matt noticed he wasn't trying to score with Sora, he was simply trying to help her. Matt let Tai go, and he walked over to Sora, the golden light of the star following.

Tai sighed, then quickly wrapped his arms around her in a quick embrace. Nothing happened. Tai looked at Matt, shrugged, then stood up on tiptoes, leaned forward, and kissed Sora gently on the forehead.

Sora loosened and Tai backed off quickly. If Sora was to interpret that kiss incorrectly, he wanted a head start before Matt could state the truth.

Sora shuddered then looked around her.

"How long have I been out?" she said looking at Tai and Matt.

"About thirty minutes," Tai said looking at her.

"That's not possible," Matt said. "I could swear it was only five."

"Time flows differently in the manner of a dream," Tai said simply.

"What happened to all the light?" Sora asked.

"DevilDevimon took out all the light, no idea how he managed that," Tai said looking around.

"What from the whole digital world?" Matt said disbelievingly.

"No just from File Island," Tai said matter of factly.

"So how come the Star of Destiny's glowing?"

"A: it's a star, B: it's not technically from, made of or connected to File Island," Tai said, flipping the star over in his hands. "So it's a repellent to whatever DevilDevimon does. Well not everything but you get the point."

"Pity we can't make it brighter," Sora muttered. Tai thought about it for a moment then his face clouded over.

"Idea?" Matt asked.

"Maybe," Tai replied dreamily. Then his face cleared and he shook himself. "First we need to get the others whatever influence that kept them down there is sure to have subsided into this darkness."

"Influence?" Sora asked.

"Long story," Tai said walking over to the almost invisible edge of Infinity Mountain.

"Tai you could fall and break your neck!" Matt said looking at Tai as if he was mad.

"And you would just love that wouldn't you," Tai chucked. And with that, he vanished.

"Tai!" yelled Matt and Sora, running over to the spot where Tai had vanished. They looked down, and saw the Star of Destiny slowly falling down below them, fingers gripping the golden metal.

"Whoever made that star," Matt whispered. "Was a freakin' genius."

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

The star he almost turned to a pinprick now, before stopping.

Tai walked along the short outcrop, where he was surrounded by his statue friends. Tai quickly moved to where Kari and T.K. stood. He pulled Kari into a quick embrace then moved to T.K, where he stopped. Something made Tai think that there was something about T.K, Cody, Ken and Yolei that would mean he would be unable to unfreeze them.

"What happened?" Kari muttered. Tai reached up to touch T.K.'s forehead. Nothing happened. He drew back an arm and threw the punch before Kari understood what he was doing. Bronze lightning flashed and struck Tai's fingers.

"OW!" Yelled Tai gripping his hand. Tai looked back at T.K. Lightning. That's what Kari had said. Yet Tai had been able to touch him, but not hurt him.

"Tai," Kari said groggily. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tai said. "Nothing."

Kari looked at T.K. and instantly gripped his arm.

"What's wrong with T.K?" she asked.

"DevilDevimon but it's reversible," Tai explained quickly. "A form of contact should do it, but there's a barrier between me and T.K, so you'll have to do it."

"Me?" Kari said. "What can I do if you can't?"

"I don't what it is Kari but T.K, Yolei, Cody and Ken can only be awakened by you."

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

The darkness was absolute. If Spacemon didn't have night vision he would have walked into the same wall thirty times. He walked past the confused and bewildered FlameWizardmon and straight into the throne room. DevilDevimon sat in his obsidian throne, snapping black gears into bits.

Spacemon walked straight over to The Shadow and pinned him by the throat to his obsidian throne.

"The Last Moment of Light was to be presented as a gift to our master," snarled Spacemon. "It was to show our commitment to him!"

DevilDevimon growled and threw a punch at Spacemon's head. The force of this attack knocked his head clean off, where it clattered on the floor some distance away.

"You have no power over me now Spacemon," snarled DevilDevimon. "I suggest you leave before I crush you into dust!"

Spacemon's body got to its feet and staggered around looking for its head.

"You'll regret this DevilDevimon!" spat Spacemon. "Mark my words!"

To be continued…


	11. The Herald, and The Star

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Episode Eleven: The Herald, and the Star

Peak of Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

Tai was the first back on top of Infinity Mountain. He looked at the Star of Destiny in his hands and grinned. It was an amazing thing. He was seriously going to have to thank the guy who made the star.

Gatomon pounced past his ear and landed a few feet away, her tail ring flicking Tai on the nose as she passed. Tai scowled and climbed up over the edge of Infinity Mountain.

He looked back over the edge at the rest of the digidestined, as they climbed steadily up through the shadows towards him. Tai looked back at Matt and Sora behind him. Matt had done nothing to help with the digidestined climbing Infinity Mountain. Just standing there holding Sora. The way she looked at him made Tai growl, almost like a dog.

Then Tai shook his head. 'What's wrong with me?' he thought. 'Shouldn't I be happy for them?'

"Hey Tai," said a voice slightly below him. He looked down at T.K. "Little help here?"

Tai reached down and proffered his hand to T.K. T.K. grabbed it and pulled himself up. Once T.K. was over the edge Tai looked past Matt and Sora, trying to penetrate the darkness. But that was all he could see. Darkness. A never ending sea of blackness. And somewhere in those shadows, DevilDevimon was waiting for him.

'But is that all that waits in the darkness Tai?' a dark voice whispered in Tai's mind. 'There is always something in the shadows. Sometimes it's me. Other times it's just your imagination. But there are the shadows of the soul, in which we ourselves hide. What are you hiding Tai?'

Tai growled, and stuck his fingers in his ears, in a feeble attempt to block out the mocking voice of The Dark One. But his voice still sounded loud and clear.

'We have been bound to a journey that will twist and bend the universe,' The Dark One whispered. 'You by bloodline. Me by destiny. Do you think you can stop me, human? I will destroy you and this digital world; no scrap that, this whole universe!'

"Shut up," Tai growled.

'You shall face trials of unendurable pain and suffering,' The Dark One mocked. 'So much pain. So much suffering. Do you want to feel that? It would be so much easier to just give in, to just let me snuff you out. Like a candle in the wind.'

"Tai?"

He looked at the source of the voice. It was Kari. She looked worried. Tai quickly pulled his fingers out of his ears.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking at his sister.

"What's wrong?" Kari asked. Tai shook his head.

"Nothing Kari," Tai lied. He didn't want his sister thinking he was crazy.

"So what's our first move?" Matt asked. Tai looked into the darkness. How were they supposed to find anything in that vast amount of darkness?

"We find DevilDevimon," Tai said. It was all he could think of.

"And how do we do that?" Mimi asked looking into the darkness. Tai followed her gaze.

'Good question,' Tai thought. 'How are we supposed to find DevilDevimon? We can barely see or hands in front of our faces.'

Tai looked at the star in his hands. In order for his idea to work, he needed to be at the highest point on File Island.

The Lair of The Shadow, Infinity Mountain, File Island Fragment

In the darkness of his temple lair, DevilDevimon chuckled. All light had been sucked from every corner of Infinity Mountain. The digidestined were immobilised, and no one could stop him now. There was just one thing to figure out. How to shut up the incessant twittering of Davis.

"I just can't see how you can see through all this," he muttered. "And wouldn't this hinder your forces?"

"For the love of god," growled DevilDevimon. "Don't you ever shut up?"

As Davis opened his mouth to reply DevilDevimon waved his hand. Davis gasped, and realized that he couldn't talk. Davis gave a few gargled attempts to speak, made a rude hand gesture at DevilDevimon, then slumped in the corner of his cell.

DevilDevimon chuckled slightly then sat in his throne and closed his eyes. He would sleep till he regained his strength. Then, he would crush the digidestined into bloody pulps.

"Pepper Breath!" yelled Agumon. The orange fireball flew from his jaws and into the darkness burning out almost instantly.

"Well that achieved nothing," commented Matt dryly. Tai gritted his teeth.

"I don't here you coming up with any suggestions Matt," he growled.

Matt pondered this for a moment. Kari rolled her eyes. Mat shrugged and Tai nodded.

"Exactly, you don't have any better idea," Tai said smugly. "So next time think about the situation before commenting on my ideas."

Matt shrugged and turned around. Tai let out a shaky breath and turned his back on Matt. Sometimes the blonde could be so infuriating. Tai wondered if he was sometimes that annoying.

Kari looked between her brother and Matt and sighed. Sometimes they could be infuriating together. She looked at the other digidestined. Izzy looked back at her and dropped his shoulders. They had to do something.

Sora shook her head then strode up to Matt and laid a hand on her shoulder. The blonde looked at her and shrugged the hand off. Kari groaned and looked back at Tai. He seemed to be muttering to himself.

Kari slowly crept towards him, straining her ears to catch a snippet of what Tai was saying. As his voice grew steadily louder, she thought she could hear an answering voice. So very soft.

"Just shut up," Tai growled. "Leave me alone."

'You can't get rid of me just by yelling,' whispered the faint voice. 'I am with as long as I exist.'

Tai growled and turned around. He looked up and spotted Kari.

"Oh hey sis," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"Tai what were you doing just now?" Kari asked.

"Just clearing my head," Tai said the sheepish grin still on his face. Kari studied her brother's face. He was hiding something that much she was certain. She decided to press him later. Now they had a demon to beat.

"What's the plan?" Kari asked looking at her big brother.

"You can all die for a start!" cackled a voice from above them. Tai looked up and saw a scarecrow like digimon descending on them, a long matchstick like object in his hands.

"Magic Ignition!" screamed FlameWizardmon. The matchstick wand he held in his hands burst into flames and came crashing down on the rocky ground. A wave of blue flames rippled from the point of impacts, knocking the digidestined and their digimon partners to the ground. FlameWizardmon straightened up and twirled his wand behind his back and leapt into a catlike stance.

"Although DevilDevimon is blinded by ignorance," snarled FlameWizardmon. "I am not so cocky. What rewards I shall receive for crushing the digidestined."

"Don't be so sure," Matt growled stepping to his feet. FlameWizardmon pointed his fist at Matt and splayed his fingers.

"Fire Cloud!" he bellowed. A cloud of red fire left his fingers and flew at Matt. Matt ducked aside of the attack. The fire cloud flew past Matt setting fire to the end of his sleeve.

"You are arrogant and foolish," sniggered FlameWizardmon. "I shall enjoy crushing you."

"Who's being arrogant now?"

FlameWizardmon looked up just in time to receive the punch thrown at him by Tai. The digidestined leader had used the distraction Matt had caused to get close to FlameWizardmon. As a result the fiery digimon was sent sprawling in the dirt. FlameWizardmon got to his feet and spat silver blood.

"You got lucky you little scumbag," snarled the sorcerer. "But now I shall call my friend in."

"Your friend?" queried Izzy.

"Come on up Thunderbirdmon!" yelled FlameWizardmon. A huge bird digimon with blue wings streaked with gold rose from behind them. His wings shone a golden light upon the mountain and his eyes stared at the digidestined with the concentration of a falcon.

"Thunder Stormer!" bellowed Thunderbirdmon. With a mighty beat of his wings, a wave of wind and lightning rippled towards the digidestined.

DevilDevimon jolted awake. He could distinctly hear the sounds of battle. He thought about this for a moment.

'Could it be the digidestined?' he thought to himself. He dismissed the idea at once. The digidestined were immobilised. It must be some of his minions having a training session.

"You obviously have quite a lot of ignorance," said a calm, measured voice. DevilDevimon looked at the source and saw the tall teenage human who had appeared on Davis' D-3. The one who called himself 'The Herald'.

"You!" spat DevilDevimon. "How did you enter my lair?"

"At the moment that is none of my concern," The Herald replied. He reached out his hand. "What is of my concern is the fact that you have stolen property of the digidestined. Return the D-3 to its rightful owner, and I may spare you punishment."

DevilDevimon snorted and replied, "You don't have the power to even touch me, let alone harm me!"

The Herald sighed.

"Why must arrogance be the focal point of all evil?" commented The Herald. Then he launched himself at DevilDevimon. The ruler of File Island had only a moment of recognition before the fist of The Herald slammed into his face.

His head smashed into his obsidian throne with such force that it cracked. Before he had time to recover, The Herald struck again, this time grabbing DevilDevimon by the shoulders, and slamming his head against DevilDevimon's.

The Shadow bellowed in pain and rage but The Herald quickly grabbed Davis' D-3 and threw it at its owner.

"Consider punishment dealt," The Herald said darkly. And with those hanging words, he vanished.

"Aquilamon DNA digivolve to…!"

"Gatomon DNA digivolve to…!"

"Silphymon!"

"Ankylomon DNA digivolve to…!"

"Angemon DNA digivolve to…!"

"Shakkoumon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to… Stingmon!"

FlameWizardmon took a worried step back. Thunderbirdmon gave a slightly concerned squawk.

"Your chances of victory just went from possible to none," Izzy said folding his arms. FlameWizardmon scowled. This was not what he had hoped for. He thought that the digidestined would be disorganised and confused by the sudden attack. They just seemed prepared for it though.

'What can I do?' thought the scarecrow like digimon. 'What can I do?'

'Well you can't do anything you pathetic little worm,' hissed a voice in his mind. 'But I could do quite a lot with you body.'

"No!" muttered FlameWizardmon.

'Too late,' chuckled The Dark One.

"NO!" screamed FlameWizardmon. "ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

But it was already far too late. The fate of FlameWizardmon had already been sealed. The digidestined watched in horror as FlameWizardmon doubled over with pain. His limbs twitched and cracked in a sickening dance. He looked up at the digidestined and his eyes were black and leaking silver blood.

"HELP ME!" he screamed.

As Tai took a step forward, FlameWizardmon changed. His skin changed from greyish purple to deep blue scales. His hair turned black. His hat became a halo of black flames, and his clothes became silver armour. The two matchstick wands became fifteen feet broadswords and FlameWizardmon grew in size to compensate.

"Ah," boomed the new warrior before them, his voice a mix of FlameWizardmon's and that of The Dark One's. "Not the best of hosts but this will do nicely to destroy you all with."

"What's the deal with taking over his body?" Tai yelled. "Too chicken to fight with your own body?"

The eyes of the new digimon flashed dangerously. He growled but didn't attack Tai.

"If I were to attack you with my own body, then you would be ripped apart in an instant," boasted The Dark One. "As it is I shall be using this imperfect host. And you can forget the name FlameWizardmon. From this point forth, I shall be known as NecroSwordsmon."

There came a bleeping sound and Tai looked at the source. Izzy's already unfolding laptop.

"NecroSwordsmon," he muttered. His eyes widened as he saw the digimon status. "Master level. Warrior-Mage type. Merged class. Special attack Chaos Spell Blade."

"Well isn't that cute," NecroSwordsmon chuckled. "Kids are so cute when they're playing with toys."

He raised his right sword.

"Storm Massacre!"

Bolts of black lightning flickered towards Izzy.

"Izzy no!" Tentomon flew straight at Izzy and knocked him aside just in time. Tai glared at NecroSwordsmon.

"Okay that does it," he snarled.

"Agumon ex warp digivolve to… MagmaGreymon!"

"Alright let him have it!" yelled Tai.

"Hell-fire Eruption!"

"Kachina Bombs!"

"Static Force!"

"Spiking Strike!"

The force of the combined attacks rocked the mountain. Rubble flew everywhere. Dust blinded every eye. Tai tried to see through it all but all he could see was dust. Then came the chuckle.

"Well if you thought that _that_ would hurt I believe you are sadly mistaken," chuckled NecroSwordsmon. "Now it's my turn! Divine Torment!"

A rolling cloud of black vapour billowed towards the digidestined. Tai took a step back but the mist still enveloped him. Tai swatted at it. The mist parted to let his hand through, but regrouped again only thicker. It became more like tar.

And that's when the pain began. It sparked across his skin like lightning. He yelled in pain but the mist wasn't air. It was too thick to breathe through. He began to choke, and the pain just kept on ramping up. It was almost exactly like the nightmare he had before they had come to the digital world. The only difference was that this was real. It really did seem like he was going to die.

'Banish these thoughts from your mind!' snapped a familiar and friendlier voice. 'We shall not perish at the hands of this twisted creation of The Dark One! Concentrate upon The Star of Destiny! It has powers further than what you have already experienced.'

Tai knew that he had no other option but to trust Taichino. It took a Herculean effort to lift the star to his face, but he managed it. Tai screwed up his face and concentrated.

'Star of Destiny,' he thought. 'Banish these choking mists. Release us from this darkness to fight our enemy anew.'

Tai had no idea why he asked like that, but Taichino had suggested it.

The star gave a brilliant flash, and Tai was suddenly gulping in air. NecroSwordsmon took a surprised step back, but quickly composed himself.

"You seem to have greater mastery of the star than I gave you credit for," he muttered. His face changed from mild curiosity, to immense aguish.

"NO!" he bellowed. "I shall not go back now!"

But even as he spoke, his data broke apart around him. Tai looked at the others. They seemed okay, and just as shocked by what had happened as he did. Before Tai could ask if everyone was alright, there came a deep chuckle from above them.

"Well," said DevilDevimon slyly. "I didn't think he would be that powerful already. If you ever actually meet him I'm sure the encounter will be swift. But that's if you defeat me first."

He raised a clawed hand.

"Destroyer Dark!"

The sphere of darkness headed straight at Tai. Tai dodged the attack with ease.

"Why do the evil digimon attack me?" he muttered to himself. DevilDevimon cocked his head as he realised that there was light on the supposed shadowed island.

"I am curious," he said. "Where does that light originate from?"

"None of your business," Tai replied. DevilDevimon looked at Tai and saw the star clutched in his hand.

"That star," DevilDevimon muttered. "How is it that it sheds light here when nothing else of File Island does?"

"'Cause it's not from File Island," Tai said.

"Well I cannot have it shedding light here."

His right arm flew out and stretched like rubber. Tai barely had time to look surprised before The Star of Destiny was wrenched from his grip.

"I shall destroy this star and plunge this world into eternal darkness," chuckled DevilDevimon. But as both hands closed around it, a brilliant flash of light sparked from the star. DevilDevimon bellowed in shock, but a louder voice sounded above his.

"I thought you would have learned," this new voice said. "Obviously you are dense as well as thieving."

From the light stepped a rather teenage looking boy. He had silver blonde hair and a long coat to match, that, apart from colour, was not dissimilar to the one David Tennant wore when he played as the tenth doctor in Doctor who. Apart from these two features there was not much Tai could see of the boy.

"You have stolen The Star of Destiny from the leader of the digidestined," said the boy. "Punishment: one heck of an ass whoopin'."

The boy launched himself at DevilDevimon. Tai didn't see the punch but DevilDevimon was thrown backwards and almost off the edge of the mountain. The Star of Destiny clattered at Tai's feet, and as he bent down to pick it up, the boy rose up into the air and raised his left hand.

"Heralds' Judgement!" he thundered. A sphere of gold and silver light appeared in his open palm. He threw the sphere at DevilDevimon. As it made contact it glowed brighter, and lightning flashed from nowhere and struck DevilDevimon, in a seemingly endless torrent of lightning.

The ruler of File Island arched his back in pain, not even having the energy to scream. The lightning dissipated. The boy looked at Tai. Tai looked back at him. Tai felt as though something electric was sliding down his spine. He realised that the boy he was looking at was scanning him as though he were a piece of data. Then he shook his head.

"I am sorry for what you must endure," said the boy. And he disappeared in a flash of grey light.

"Wow," whispered Kari. "Did he really just do all that?"

"I guess so," muttered T.K.

"What do you think he meant by 'I'm sorry for what you must endure,'?" Izzy muttered.

"Whatever he meant I don't like it," Matt growled. "And I didn't like him."

Tai looked at them. They seemed to think that the boy had been talking to all of them, when he was sure that he was talking to him.

"Well he did take care of DevilDevimon for us right?" Sora said slowly.

"I don't think so," Tai answered.

As if to prove his point DevilDevimon burst from the mountain at his feet, griping Tai by the shoulders.

"You shall all die!" he roared. "Starting with YOU!"

And with that he flung Tai upwards.

The air whipped at Tai's hair, and ripped at his clothes. It pressed all the air from his lungs so he didn't have the strength to scream. But even if he had, he wouldn't have. With all the effort he could muster, he grabbed The Star of Destiny from his pocket.

'Not the sort of circumstances I wanted but it'll do,' Tai thought.

And then DevilDevimon was their, his hands already closed on Tai's head. Tai nearly screamed if he had any air in his lungs, as DevilDevimon began to crush his skull.

"I'm going to crush your bones to dust, boil your blood to steam and tear you flesh to ribbons," snarled DevilDevimon.

But Tai wasn't listening. He was concentrating on something else. The Star of Destiny.

As DevilDevimon blindly continued to crush Tai's head, the star's light became stronger and stronger.

Tai managed to suck in a single breath of air and whispered, "Release."

Matt was looking up into the sky. Although that didn't really help. Tai had been the one holding the star, and now they were surrounded by darkness. At looked to his left, where he'd last seen Sora and reached out a hand slowly. He felt Sora's hand grip his and he could feel her trembling.

He couldn't exactly blame her. They were surrounded by what they assumed would be endless darkness, their only source of light had gone into the sky, and their leader was probably dead.

Matt looked at Sora. The expression on her face was one of absolute terror. Matt frowned. Something about what he was seeing just didn't ring true.

'I shouldn't be seeing anything!' Matt realised. He looked up in time to see the sky light up, in an explosion of light. Matt shielded his eyes, and it was a long time before he could lower his hand.

As he did so, something clattered to the ground in front of him. Matt looked at it and gasped.

It was the red hot, still steaming, Star of Destiny.

To be continued…


	12. The Beckoning of Royalty

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Episode Twelve: The Beckoning of Royalty

Base of Infinity Mountain, File Island

They had watched the island reassemble from Infinity Mountain. With some difficulty Matt had managed to carry The Star of Destiny, without the scorching metal burning him. They now sat at the base of the mountain, wondering what to do. Davis had been released from his cell and he now sat with his arms wrapped round his knees.

It was only when they were resting that they realised how tired they were. Matt looked again at The Star of Destiny. The metal had cooled down ages ago, but it still burned to his touch. That mean that Tai was alive somewhere. They were just too tired to find him.

Net Ocean, Just offshore File Island

The saltwater stung his wounds. A sudden explosion of light would also result in immense heat. And being so close to the source of heat and light would definitely leave some scarring. But the pain of the saltwater was nothing compared to the sunlight falling on him.

DevilDevimon growled as he limped ashore. Curse that digidestined scum.

"I said I would crush his bones to dust, boil his blood to steam, and tear his flesh to ribbons," snarled DevilDevimon. "And I intend to do so."

"And just how are you going to do so when you can barely stand?" queried a voice up the beach from him. DevilDevimon looked up at the source of the thick, 'Elvis like' voice.

"You," he said. Then he snarled. "What are you doing here? File Island is MY domain."

"The big boss doesn't like the tune you're singing," The King said. "So he's asked me to do what he has no time or concern for."

"Surely the digidestined should be on his-"

"No. It's not the digidestined's concert I've come to end."

DevilDevimon's four eyes widened and he staggered back.

"Y-y-you can't," he stammered. "Y-y-you won't. Will you?"

"I dunno," The King asked stepping forward, drawing an electric guitar from behind his back. "Will I?"

And he began to strum on the guitar.

"Rock 'n' Roll Riff!" yelled The King. A shockwave from the music flew at DevilDevimon, and slammed into his chest. DevilDevimon screamed, as the attack tore through his already weakened data.

All that remained of DevilDevimon was a sticky pile of data shards.

"That was too easy even for a weakling like DevilDevimon," chuckled The King.

"Well I must say that show was rather disappointing," said an eccentric voice from behind him. "Couldn't you at least have had a little fight? But I suppose this what I get for paying for the cheap seats."

The King turned around to see a rather eccentric looking digimon sitting cross-legged on a rock just up the beach from him. The Actor.

"What are you doing here theatre freak?" The King asked.

"I came to watch the show music baboon," chuckled The Actor. He clapped his hands and exclaimed, "I say if I gave you a pair of symbols could you do a little dance for me?"

The King snarled.

"You're lucky I have other places to be," he muttered, turning around and drawing a silver coin from thin air. With a crackle electricity, he was swept back to Server.

"Remind me to stomp on his grave," The Actor said to a Bakemon beside him.

"Yes oh mighty ace lord," the Bakemon said. The Actor's eyes flashed.

"I told you never to call me that!" he thundered, kicking the Bakemon in his chest and then standing on him.

"Yes oh lord, I apologise a million times. Take my life for I am but an insignificant worm."

'I should take his life,' The Actor thought to himself. 'But who will remind me to stomp on that monkey boy's grave.'

"Your life shall be spared," The Actor said. "This time."

And they too, were taken away from File Island.

Seadramon Lake, File Island

He opened his eyes. The light was dimmer than he had remembered. It didn't blind him as much, and he could barely feel the heat from the sun. Then feeling began to return to his body, and he could feel the scars of heat all the way up and down him.

"Ow," Tai whispered. If he had known that his idea would hurt this much he wouldn't have tried it. But he had returned light to File Island, and maybe he had pushed DevilDevimon down a peg or two. He tried rolling over, but the effort left him panting. He obviously wasn't in any shape to be going anywhere.

He remained there, motionless, listening to the wash of water against the shore. He thought that he might be on some beach. He chuckled, though the effort hurt.

'With that mush force behind the explosion I wouldn't be too surprised if I was back in the real world.'

As Tai lay there, something began to awaken from the bottom of the lake.

Native Forest, File Island

Matt cursed again.

"If he dropped that D-3 of his somewhere I'm goanna kill him."

Davis looked at his own D-3. The faint golden signal of Tai's D-3 indicated an area, not a specific location.

"I can barely get a reading on this thing," Davis scowled.

Kari looked at hers. The only clear signal that wasn't theirs was that of The Star of Destiny.

"I think the star and Tai's D-3 work as a double transmitter," she said aloud. "If one is without the other, well stuff goes wrong."

"Well it is an interesting theory," Izzy said. "But at the moment it doesn't really help us find Tai. Plus we can't really test it."

"Well at least we no the area where Tai is," Yolei said looking at her own D-3.

The other digidestined seemed to perk up a little. But Cody, Kari, Yolei, Davis, T.K. and Ken shared an ominous look. They didn't mention to the others, that wherever Tai was, he wasn't alone.

?

"Rise and shine sleepy head," said a voice from above him. Tai opened his eyes to grey mist. He groaned and rolled over. The boy who had attacked DevilDevimon stood over him, a slight grin on his face. He reached a hand out and Tai took it and the boy pulled him to his feet.

"Nice work with DevilDevimon by the way," he said. "I didn't know you knew that light would weaken his connecting data."

"The idea was just to bring light to File Island," Tai groaned. "But if I took out DevilDevimon as well then hell these wounds are worth it."

The boy nodded.

"Um, one question, who are you?" Tai asked. The other boy laughed.

"My gosh where are my manners?" he said aloud. "Well for certain reasons my name or perhaps, species of digimon is a secret, but I suppose you could call me by my title. So for this scenario my name is The Herald."

"Right… and where's Taichino?"

"Well he's around," The Herald said. "But I wanted to talk to you for a minute or two."

"Great," Tai muttered. "I have three minds in my head."

The Herald laughed.

"I am not in your head all the time, in fact in not anywhere most of the time. You see there was an accident, a long time ago. Now as a result, I can no longer appear in one dimension or another for more than a few hours, or maybe minutes."

"Other dimensions?" Tai pondered. The Herald waved his hand.

"Another conversation for another day. Now I shall show you what you need to see."

The grey mist enveloped them. For a moment it turned black, then it parted to show a scene of a barren wasteland.

Seven children stood on the plains, sitting beside them were seven assorted digimon. On the ground before them was a monster. A hideous dragon-like thing. The lead child stood over him, sword drawn and pointed at the thing's throat.

"Yield," Taichino whispered. The Dark One snarled.

"Never," he snapped.

"Then we must do this the hard way brother," said the tall, elegant angel like digimon that stood beside Taichino.

"There must be another way," Taichino said to his partner.

"There is none," she whispered. She stepped up to The Dark One and placed one hand on his shoulder, the other on his head. She helped The Dark One to his feet. Then she began to lift her hand off his shoulder. A small blood red ruby flowed out from it. The Dark One stiffened. She pulled her hand off his head, dragging out a diamond with it.

The Dark One became fossilised. The digimon collapsed in a heap, her face beaded with sweat. Taichino ran to her side, but she pushed him away.

"It is too late Taichino," she whispered. She thrust the two gems into his hands. "Hide them. Make sure he never walks this earth again."

She broke apart to data. The sky seemed to split open with lightning as if mourning the death of The Pure One.

The grey mist closed in again.

"Was that the accident you talked about?" Tai asked.

"No," The Herald answered. "But what happened when The Pure one died and The Dark One was separated in three?"

"Lightning across the sky," Tai said simply. "So?"

"That was the digital world reacting to the sudden shift in the balance between light and darkness," The Herald explained. "The two forces that govern the universe thrown out of whack. So I shall ask another question. What is the digital world?"

"Izzy said it was the physical embodiment of data passing through the Earths computer systems," Tai said, remembering that afternoon long ago when he thought Izzy might bore him to death. The Herald nodded.

"He was partly right," he said. "The digital world _is _the physical embodiment of passing data and information. But not of the Earth. Moreover the whole _universe._ This means that the digital world is kindda' the universe's hard drive. If something big happens in the digital world, it changes the universe and vice versa."

"So why did the balance shift then?"

"The Dark One is so powerful he embodies the darkness itself, whereas The Pure One embodies all light in the universe."

"And why are you telling me all this?"

The Herald looked at him seriously.

"What do you intend to do to The Dark One?"

"What?"

"Answer the question."

"Okay. Um, I intend to kick his ass till he's gone for good."

The Herald shook his head.

"Light and darkness control the universe. The Dark One embodies darkness. Destroy him and the universe is thrown into absolute meltdown."

"He'll keep on coming after me and my family until he is gone for good."

The Herald sighed.

"Sometimes I wish I did have a true form. If I did I could let you do that. Still, I shall do what I can to stop your slightly blinded vendetta to destroy The Dark One." He looked at his watch.

"Our time is up," he said simply. Tai nodded and they grey mist began to turn opaque.

"You said that anything truly powerful here embodies something in the universe," Tai said. "So what do you embody?"

The Herald remained silent before replying.

"I embody the balance between opposing forces," he said. "I embody destiny itself. I am The Herald."

Seadramon Lake, File Island

Something roared behind Tai. His eyes flared open. He flipped himself over and hissed in pain. He was still recovering from the stunt with The Star of Destiny. He looked up and saw the thing that had roared.

"Great," muttered Tai, "As if one Devimon wasn't bad enough."

Standing in the centre of the lake, submerged to his waist in the water and still towering thirty feet above him, was MarineDevimon.

"Dark Deluge!" yelled the squid like demon before him, spurting black ink towards Tai.

Tai rolled over several times and just narrowly avoided the attack, the ground behind him steaming. Somehow he managed to stagger to his feet and face the monster before him.

"Hey ugly!" Tai yelled. "Didn't your mom ever tell you it's rude to spit?"

MarineDevimon snarled and stumbled through the water towards Tai.

"Neck Hanging!" he yelled. One of his long tentacle like claws lashed out towards Tai's neck. He tried a stumbling dive but he was too slow. The tentacle gripped him tight around the neck and lifted him to his face.

"I wonder what happens when I do this," gargled MarineDevimon, poking Tai in one of his wounds. Tai screamed and tried to pull off the chocking tentacle, but the water still coating it and its slippery texture made it impossible to get any purchase on it.

Just before Tai thought he was going to die either of pain or of lack of oxygen a voice called out.

"Shocking Festival!"

A bolt of multi-coloured lightning flew through the air and severed the tentacle chocking Tai. The tentacle hit the water with a slippery slap and Tai landed head first in the lake.

Tai instantly began to swim back to the surface. His head broke through and he looked at MarineDevimon. He was falling backwards, his eyes glazed over. His data didn't shatter until after he had fallen into the lake. The wave of his body hitting the water sent Tai riding the miniature tsunami to the shore.

He gasped for air and looked up at the digimon standing there. He seemed vaguely familiar. He resembled a black rabbit standing up on its hind legs, that is if rabbits are five feet tall, wear black leather jackets and have black tinted sunglasses on their noses.

Tai then recognised the digimon, although it was some sort of digivolved form.

"Gazimon?" Tai whispered. The digimon shook his head.

"The name's RockGazimon," the digimon informed.

"You don't look like a rock head," Tai muttered. "Although looks can be deceiving."

"ROCK! As in the music genre," RockGazimon snapped. "You're lucky the boss wants you alive, otherwise I'd have to kick your ass."

He drew something out of his pocket and tossed it down to Tai. He looked at it. It was ticket sleeve. He opened it and inside was twenty four first class cruise tickets to Server.

"Yeah you actually think I'm goanna trust you?" Tai asked. RockGazimon shrugged.

"Unless you have another way to Server I'd take the offer."

Tai bit his lip. The digimon was right. They needed to get to Server, but he wasn't sure if he should trust this fur brained has bin rock star. Tai sighed then staggered to his feet, scooping up the ticket sleeve as he did so.

RockGazimon gave a fanged grin then turned to leave.

"Just where do you think you're goin' bub?" growled Flamedramon. "Fire Rocket!"

RockGazimon jumped over the attack, and the new target was Tai. He yelled and dived aside.

"You actually think you compare to me!" bellowed RockGazimon. "Concert Crasher!"

He flew back at Flamedramon leg outstretched, ready to kick the fiery digimon in the midriff. Flamedramon, not expecting the assault, was caught off guard and received the full force of the Ultimate level's attack. He flew backwards into a tree with a sickening 'Thwack!'

He groaned in pain and sank to the ground, de-digivolving back into Veemon.

Davis felt his D-3 vibrate in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and looked at it. The screen was flashing red, the same way it did every time their partners were in trouble.

"Veemon!" Davis exclaimed.

Matt looked at him.

"He's in trouble?" he questioned. Davis nodded. Matt looked to Gabumon. "Let's go."

The Dark Ocean, The World of Darkness

The Herald walked along the blackened sands. This was the one place that he could remain. A prison. Both for him, and for his evil scumbag sibling.

After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the cliffs that ended the beach. That didn't seem to faze The Herald. He merely climbed up it, till he reached the top.

He walked along the windy cliff top for hours. He just wanted to move, to leave his brother behind. But of course he knew it was impossible.

The World of Darkness was big enough to be a prison, and so it was a simple matter to walk around the world.

He reached it at last. He let his hand slide across its smooth surface. The Gate of The Seven Deadly Sins. A work of his own genius and his brother's combined. The only release from this prison. At least for him. His brother had many escape routes, although they would diminish his true power.

But for him, only his mind could escape, and create a shadow of a body.

He growled. What he wouldn't give to open that gate right here and now. But that was impossible. Although it may be a work of his genius, only when all seven seals were placed in the gate, could it be opened.

"If only," he murmured.

Seadramon Lake, File Island

Tai limped away from RockGazimon as fast as he was able, the still unconscious Veemon under his arm.

"Just because the boss said he _wanted _you alive, doesn't mean I have to bring you to him in that state!" called RockGazimon. Tai pushed himself harder moving through the trees, branches whipping across his face, reopening only just closed scars.

"You can run but sooner or later you'll fall!"

Tai knew he was right. The pain in his legs and chest was driving him insane. He could picture RockGazimon towering over an unconscious Tai and a weakened Veemon.

His foot snagged on a tree root. He yelled and staggered forward for a few paces before continuing. He hissed in pain but still continued to run.

"Concert Crasher!"

Tai looked up as the falling tree caught his trailing leg. He roared in agony and hit the ground hard, Veemon flying from his grip. He looked up at RockGazimon. The rabbit like digimon sniggered as he saw the look of agony on Tai's face.

"Night night little boy," he sniggered. He raised a paw.

Something about that motion made Tai think of his Cat, Miko. He gave a terrified little sob of amusement, at all the hours he used to chase him around. What would his parents think? Would Kari ever really know what happened to him?

All of these things boiled inside of Tai. He couldn't die! He wouldn't die.

The Star of Destiny glowed in Tai's pocket, reacting to the feelings memories and statements running through Tai's head.

The tree imprisoning Tai's leg glowed and the disappeared. RockGazimon had a moment's recognition, before he too glowed and vanished. Tai's jaw dropped. Then he felt the pain and wounds receding all over his body.

Tai looked at The Star of Destiny. Had it somehow caused all that? How had it returned to Tai in the first place? Tai shook his head. Was that even possible?

Tai wasn't sure if it was possible or not but the star had just saved his life. He shook his head. Whoever made it would seriously have to be thanked.

The Dark Tower, Viral Capital, Viral Realms

Inside Darkness' laboratory, the spirit of The Dark One glowed bright.

'Soon,' his ghostly voice hissed. 'I shall arise. Stronger than ever. And my foolish sister will not stand in my way a second time!'

Seadramon Lake, File Island

Matt walked along the shore. The other digidestined stood behind him, each one looking a different way. Matt glanced at his digivice. The golden signal was becoming stronger they further walked.

Matt squinted into the distance and grinned. Tai was walking swiftly in their direction a chuckling Veemon draped over one shoulder.

"You're looking good for someone who nearly got fried!" Matt called.

"I'm looking good for someone who just saved File Island single handed!" he yelled back, laughing. He held up the ticket sleeve.

"Anybody up for a cruise?"

To be continued…


	13. Possesive Para Normality

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Episode Thirteen: Possessive Para normality

The Castle of Nightmares, Sever Continent

Nightmare Supreme paced through his throne room, hands clasped behind his back, blood red eyes attempting to burn a hole in the marble floor he was looking at.

'How dare that scum Spacemon do that to me!' he thought to himself. 'The digidestined were in the palm of my hand! And now as a result The Shadow is dead!'

"Darkness is underestimating the digidestined," spat Nightmare. "If he allows them to continue we will all be destroyed!"

"Sounds like someone's getting nervous," chuckled a voice. Nightmare spun around and glared at the intruder.

"What do you want?" he snapped at the metal creature before him. The Empire shrugged.

"Just to irritate you," he admitted.

"It's working!" Nightmare growled.

"Oh good I thought that you were just angry because you've had your ass handed to you by the digidestined three times on the trot."

"OUT!" thundered Nightmare.

File Island Port, File Island

Tai sat on his own, waiting for the ferry to arrive. It wouldn't be for another twenty minutes but he wanted to be on his own. His mind was plagued with different and conflicting thoughts, about The Dark One, Sora and Matt, and most of all himself.

'What's happening to me?' he thought over and over again. Ever time he came up with the puberty argument but it didn't seem that way. It seemed to him that the more he thought about it, the more he became evil. He shook the thoughts out of his head.

He glanced over at his friends. He had become more and more distant from them since MaloMyotismon. What if he became as Matt had once been, silent and miserable?

Tai's eyes narrowed. Matt. When Matt had been slightly depressed, he had been fine. Now the table were turned. Tai was miserable, and Matt always had that goofy grin on his face. What he wouldn't give to rip that grin right off.

The sharp blare of a ferry boat foghorn broke Tai out of his mutilation revere. He looked and saw a mass of metal work that was not at all different from a normal Earth ferry. He got up and waited for the others to join him.

"We're going to Server," Tai muttered.

He looked back at the others. They were rushing towards him. Tai could see the concern and nervousness in their eyes.

"We all ready?" Tai asked.

"Well if I said yes I'd be lying," Matt said. "I mean we were given these by an enemy."

"Does Mister Critical have any better ideas?" Tai asked Matt in a sceptical tone. When Matt said nothing Tai continued. "If we do all get ambushed here you can each kick my ass in hell."

Matt nodded his slight approval and stalked onto the ferry. Tai looked back at the group.

"Any other complaints?"

They all shook their heads. Tai nodded and followed Matt onto the ferry. Sora followed quickly, sliding past Tai and catching up to Matt. The digidestined followed but as T.K. took a step on board, Kari grabbed his arm.

"Ow," he hissed, as Kari spun him round to face her. "Um, yeah?"

"Normally it's my brother who's the dense one when it comes to feelings," she whispered. "But it seems to me that Matt is completely oblivious to what his relationship with Sora, plus his arrogance, which I think has something to do with Tai being made _official _leader, are doing to Tai. Haven't you seen the way Tai acts around either of them?"

T.K. pondered what she was saying. Tai had been acting different ever since the defeat of MaloMyotismon. He had thought that had been him reacting to the fact that the digital world was safe, but it seemed more than that. Tai was separating himself from the rest of the digidestined.

"I think you're right," he said after a minute or two. "Well what can we do? I mean short from breaking Matt and Sora up, I don't see that many options."

Kari's expression worried him slightly.

"I was kidding."

"I know that. But this talk of relationships…"

She didn't finish her sentence, only standing on tiptoes, pressing her lips against T.K.'s. The blonde haired teen wasn't prepared for such an action and was caught totally off-guard. His response was to slide his arms round her neck and hold her to him.

She pulled away from him and blushed.

"Sorry," she whispered. T.K. blushed as well and smiled.

"Don't be," he said in reply. She smiled through her crimson cheeks. T.K. relinquished his hold on her. Kari swayed slightly. T.K. instantly set a hand on her shoulder. She smiled, her crimson blush turning to a pale green. T.K. looked over the side of the ferry and saw the water flashing past below. He looked back at Kari.

"Seasick?"

She gave a small shrug.

"Sometimes."

She leapt to the side of the boat and stuck her head over the side. T.K. placed a hand on her back as Kari threw up yesterday's lunch. Finally she straightened up. She seemed to be slightly more stable and the green flush was gone from her cheeks.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence.

"So… anything we can do about Tai and Matt?" T.K. asked.

"My vote is to keep an eye on them, just to see how it goes?" Kari suggested. T.K. nodded.

"And what about us?"

Kari gave a seductive smile, and let her fingers play up his chest.

"Let's see how that goes as well."

The Black Castle, The Browser Plains

"I believe this belongs to you."

The Actor looked up from his book. Nightmare Supreme was there, holding a dejected Empire by his shit collar.

"You can put me down now!" snapped Empire.

Nightmare let go of the metal digimon. He hit the floor with a clang of metal, and a thud of wood.

"Next time he looses his crown," Nightmare hissed, disappearing in a puff of black vapour.

"He is not getting my crown!" snapped The Empire.

"Well maybe if you didn't irritate the hell out of him your crown wouldn't be in danger," muttered The Actor. The Empire raised an iron hand to his head, and let his fingers play through his crown of thorns. A hiss of pistons and a whir of gears brought their attention to the mass of metal and wiring standing in the corner of the room.

"Feeling better today?" The Actor asked. A second hiss of pistons and the thing opened its mouth.

"My form is still repairing," answered The Machine. "Systems are limited to speech and basic movement."

"Well good for you," drawled The Empire. "I still don't know why we keep him. If he doesn't repair soon I'm goanna bash him beyond repair."

"Repair time shall remain constant. Five weeks still remain before full repairs are complete," grated The Machine.

"Well good," muttered The Actor.

Net Ocean

Tai stood at the prow of the ship. His fingers were curled so tight around the railing; the skin across his knuckles was starting to split. His face was set and his eyes stared straight ahead of him, seeing nothing.

The other digidestined had gone off to do various activities, but he just stood there, looking at the ocean.

'Getting tense are we?'

Tai snarled.

"The last thing I need right now is you!" he hissed.

'Well well, someone's tetchy. What's got your knickers in a twist?'

"Go away."

'I shall not leave you be. While you live I shall always be hanging over your shoulder.'

"Just shut up and get lost."

'You think just telling _him _to shut up will force him too? Yamato won't hesitate to stab you in the back. He will betray you, I mean, if he hasn't already.'

Tai stopped. Then shook his head.

"Just go. Just leave me alone."

'Well you were warned.'

Tai sighed and closed his eyes. Although he knew that The Dark One was evil, hated his family and was going to take over the digital world, he was also making a valid point. There were only traces of doubt in his mind that Matt would double cross him given the chance. He had already technically done it. He had gone behind his back and taken the girl he loved away from him.

His eyes snapped open. Was he really thinking these thoughts? He started to suck in deep breathes. He shook his head, trying to clear the dark thought from his head. It was maddening just to have the thoughts in his head.

He straightened up and walked to the stairs leading inside the ship, allowing him access to the many rooms on board. He needed to sleep this off.

The digidestined sat at four different tables. Kari was worried that Tai hadn't joined them but she didn't have time to worry.

T.K. and Kari grabbed a table set for four and were quickly joined by Patamon and Gatomon. A rather dejected Davis sat at a second table for four with Cody, Veemon and Armadillomon. Sora, Matt, Biyomon and Gabumon grabbed their own table and the rest of the digidestined and their partners sat around a huge table.

The laughter and the talk filled the room but Kari couldn't help feeling that something was wrong. T.K. noticed Kari's distracted behaviour.

"You okay?" he asked touching her cheek. Kari smiled and shrugged.

"Just this weird feeling."

In the shadows in the corner of the room however, a tall cloaked figure gave a smirk.

"You would be right to feel fear," Nightmare chuckled. "I am here to stop you from destroying everything we have worked for."

He stepped through the wall and disappeared, as Kari looked in his direction. She frowned but then turned back to her dinner. She had no idea that her perfect evening, would turn to the supreme nightmare.

Tai lay face down in his bed, his mouth lolling open, his deep snored filling the room. He was drooling slightly onto a pillow. Nightmare Supreme walked in through the shadows, his blood red lips curling into a smile. The digidestined leader would be the first to fall.

He closed his eyes and let his mind flow into Tai's.

?

Tai was alone. He knew that he was alone. This was after all a dream. He lay on a beach in the digital world, the sun beating down on him. He smiled. Someone stepped in front of the suns rays. Tai squinted at the silhouette.

"Hey cutie," said Sora. She got down to her knees and lay down, her head resting on Tai's torso. Tai wrapped one arm delicately around her. She lifted her hand up and touched his arm.

"I love you Tai," Sora whispered. Tai gave a sad smile. A tear reached the corner of his eye. He knew that he would never hear Sora say those words to him when he woke up, and that was why he whished to remain asleep in this perfect world.

He frowned as he continued to look up into the sky. Deep black clouds were rolling across the pale blue of the sky. He felt Sora get up and he followed suit.

"It looks like it's gonna rain," Sora muttered. "Maybe we should get inside."

"Yeah," Tai said looking around. This wasn't the perfection he usually dreamed of. He looked back at Sora. She was facing rigidly away from him. As Tai reached out to grab her, she fell backwards.

Tai reached out and caught her, cradling her in his arms. Her eyes were glazed over. He looked down her perfect stomach to where the blood was pooling out of her, from a deep stab wound.

"No," Tai choked. "No, SORA!"

He looked up at the assailant and saw the person he only dreamt of in nightmares.

"If I couldn't have her," Matt said a maniacal smile on his face. "Then neither could you Taichi."

Tai looked at Matt and a familiar rage gripped him.

Net Ocean

Nightmare snapped out of Tai's vision. He had had enough fun toying with this boy. But there was plenty of rage currently coiling around him. It would be a shame not to put it to use.

He stepped up to the whimpering digidestined and placed two fingers delicately on his eyes. Nightmare glowed blood red for a second before flowing into Tai.

And then the digidestined opened blood flecked, pure white eyes.

Kari and the other digidestined walked towards their rooms. She smiled and laughed and joked with the rest of the digidestined. She reached her door and said goodnight. The other digidestined followed suit. Finally only Gabumon and Matt remained out on deck. Gabumon looked at his partner.

"Are we going in Matt?" he asked eventually. Matt looked at him.

"I need some air. You go on ahead."

He slipped his partner the key and walked to the prow of the ship. He rested on his elbows and stared at the black mirror of the ocean. He looked down and saw the ship cleaving a path of white froth from the black waters.

Then, out of nowhere, a twisted mad face appeared in the water. Matt leapt back in shock and horror. He looked back over the railing. The face was gone. He sighed, turned around and sat down in front of the railing.

"I must not be getting enough sleep," he muttered. He closed his eyes and imagined the face again. It looked so horrific. It looked almost exactly like Tai, but there were deep scars along his cheeks, his eyes were a blood red and his face was twisted into an insane, screaming grin.

Matt smiled. He hadn't been that sacred since he watched Paranormal Activity, and that had been with Tai, Sora, Mimi and Izzy, and all their partners.

He looked up. He squinted. And then he saw it. The bloody stain that was painted in the shadows. He stood up. He walked towards. No, it wasn't a simple stain. It was writing. Someone had written a message for him in blood. He was on the edge of the shadows before he could make out what it said.

'Be afraid…'

Matt took a step back. Then he sprinted back to the rooms.

Mimi lay asleep in her bed. Palmon lay beside her. There heavy breathing filled the room. The door creaked open. Palmon instantly snapped awake.

"Who's there?" she whispered. The door creaked open some more.

"Whoever you are," she whispered. "You better not think I go down easy."

The door opened wide enough for Palmon to see through. No one was there. She was about to give a sigh of relief, when she heard it. Footsteps. Coming closer. Palmon shivered. She looked all around her. Then her eyes fell upon the mirror.

Tai stood behind her in the reflection; his cheeks slashed deeply, blood flowing freely down his face, his eyes pure white, flecked with what appeared to be blood. His hood was over his head and as Palmon looked down, she saw the long knife that he held.

Before she could scream, the reflection of Tai pulled back his fist and swung a punch at Palmon's head. Palmon felt the punch even though it seemed to come from a reflection. She flew backwards, hitting the mirror, cracking it straight down the middle.

Mimi sat bolt upright and looked at Palmon, then she saw the mirror and she screamed. Tai slashed with the blade and Mimi rolled of the bed. The footsteps followed Palmon and Mimi as they fled the room, Mimi grabbing a dressing gown as she ran. She slammed the door behind her, and something slammed into it. She and Palmon ran down the side of the room's trying to remember which one belonged to a digidestined.

Behind her however, Tai gave a maniacal shrieking laugh.

Kari jolted awake. She looked around her dark room and then settled back on her pillow.

"A dream," she whispered. Someone knocked on the door in a rapid tapping. She sat bolt upright.

"Who is it?" she asked terrified.

"It's Matt!" called a voice on the other side of the door. Kari sighed and walked up to open the door. She pulled it open Matt stood there, Gabumon at his side. She looked behind him, and saw Sora, Biyomon, Izzy, Tentomon, T.K. and Patamon standing in the corridor behind him.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Matt thinks that there's a ghost on the ship," Gabumon muttered. "I think he's spent too much time watching Paranormal Activity, but hey that's just me."

"I know what I saw," Matt snapped.

"We know Matt," T.K. yawned. "But can't it wait till morning?"

"We might not be able to do anything then," Matt hissed. Footsteps running. Matt looked up. Mimi and Palmon were running towards them, a look of absolute terror on there faces.

"What happened?" Sora asked as the two of them as they reached them. Mimi bent over and put her hands on her knees, chocking on deep breathes.

"Tai… in our room… he had a knife," she finally managed to choke out. Matt's eyes widened.

"Tai?" he whispered. Palmon nodded.

"But there was something wrong with him," she said. "His eyes were all white, and he had these weird cuts on his cheeks. And even weirder, we could only see him in the mirror."

And then they all heard it. The sound of screaming. T.K.'s eyes widened.

"The others," he whispered. As one the digidestined flew down the corridor, Mimi and Palmon falling behind slightly. T.K. had thought that the screaming had come from their rooms but no. As they drew closer to it he realized that it was coming from the dining hall.

The double doors flew open as T.K. slammed into them. The other digidestined were huddled in a corner of the room. As T.K. made a step towards them he heard something scrape the floor. He looked in the direction of the noise and only just managed to duck the chair thrown at him.

Yolei sobbed into Ken's shoulder. Cody whimpered. Matt walked into the room.

"We know you're there," he whispered, his quiet voice still filling the silent room. "So why don't you just show yourself?"

There was a second scrape of furniture and a table flew through the air. Matt dived aside, and the table splintered on the wall behind him. Gabumon began to run to his side, but the invisible footsteps sounded cutting him off. There was the sound of fist meeting face and Gabumon flew backwards.

"Gabumon!" Matt yelled and tried to get up, but the footsteps were there again. But they weren't heading for him.

Sora screamed as a deep gash appeared on Izzy's cheek. The techno whiz kid collapsed clutching his cheek, blood leaking from under his fingers.

"Stop it!" thundered Matt. Then there was silence. Absolute silence. Slowly, painfully slowly, the footsteps came towards Matt. Matt tried to back away, but he felt a deathly cold hand grip his throat. He felt it contract around his throat. Felt the wall slam into his back.

He lifted his hands to try to pry off the chocking grip, but an invisible fist pounded his face. He still tried to lift his hands again, but the fist hit him again. Then he felt the knife on his cheek.

"Please," he managed to choke. "No."

The hand on his throat twitched. Then he heard the blade clatter to the floor. The hand fell away. He saw the person who had been strangling him. True to Mimi's description, it was Tai, but his cheeks were slashed, his eyes white and a weird smile on his face.

But the smile was falling. The colour returning to Tai's eyes, the slashes in his cheeks closing. Tai dropped to the floor and rolled over onto his stomach. Matt watched as his friend coughed up a coiling red mist. When the mist had gone Tai looked up at Matt.

A minute of staring and Tai seemed to remember why they were there. His eyes widened in horror. He curled up in a ball, and started to cry.

To be contiued…


	14. The Ruthlessness of Destructamon

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Episode Fourteen: The Ruthlessness Destructamon

Net Ocean

Tai sat alone at breakfast. Agumon had been over to him numerous times but his partner seemed indifferent to Agumon's presence. His breakfast lay uneaten before him. His eyes stared at nothingness and his breathing was slow and deliberate.

"I don't like it," muttered Mimi.

"He's had something screwing about with his head," Kari said. "That's bound to bring him down."

"That's not what I mean," Mimi muttered. "I meant I don't like the fact that he came to kill me and Palmon first. What did we do to deserve that?"

Matt shrugged and took another long draft from his coffee.

"How long do you think it's going to take him?" Sora whispered. Matt looked at her.

"To what? Finish his breakfast?"

"Matt you know what I meant," she snapped. "I meant how long is it going to take him to recover?"

Izzy gave a shrug.

"He was possessed Sora," he said. "He was forced to do things against his will. He was forced to try and kill us. It must have been mentally exhausting to break free of that power. His mind is probably mentally thinned. In theory we might never really get the Tai we once knew back. Just to get him talking again could take days, weeks or perhaps never."

"Any chance of it being minutes?" Davis asked.

Izzy shook his head.

"A mental struggle like that couldn't be repaired in just minutes. We have to help him in any way possible."

"No offence but I like Tai the way he is now," Matt said.

"This isn't funny Matt!" snapped Joe. "Tai is mentally scarred, possible for life, and here you are cracking jokes!"

Matt seemed taken aback by Joe's sudden outburst.

Meanwhile Tai remained silent. His mind was numb. All he could think about was what he was so close to doing last night. He had nearly killed Mimi, nearly killed Matt.

"What would have happened?" he whispered, "If I hadn't regained control?"

'You would have killed everybody in the digidestined. I thought that would've been obvious.'

Tai hissed.

"You can be really annoying."

'It's what I'm here for.'

"Yeah but it isn't, is it? You're here for something else."

'You're wise beyond your years aren't you? With an intellect like yours, why do you bother being merely a silent protector? Why not a god, like me?'

Tai twitched but did not say anything.

Kari looked at her brother.

"Is he talking to himself?"

Izzy looked as well.

"Only to be expected. He's had a second mind in his head. Some lingering effects might be causing Tai to imagine that there are people there who aren't."

"Or maybe he's just nuts," Matt muttered.

"You know for being the digidestined of friendship you have become a real arrogant twat. You know that right?" said Izzy. Matt spluttered and chocked on his coffee. Kari smiled.

"I believe now would be a good time to say, 'owned.'"

Matt scowled and walked away. Kari and Izzy shared a quick high five, before focusing their attention back on Tai. He was shivering now, shaking though it wasn't cold.

"Shut up," he whispered.

'You know you could have this power. It could all be yours. Fame, glory, respect. Everything that you wanted.'

"The conversion speech doesn't work on me," Tai hissed.

'But what if it were true what I said? You could have it all, and of course most of all, the chance to defeat your greatest annoyance.'

Tai had to pause at this thought. The chance to defeat his greatest annoyance? His smile flickered. Surely Matt could help the team more six feet under?

Somewhere on Server

The hot sun beet down upon his metal skin. He growled and looked at Spacemon. The tall digimon sighed as he once again tried to cover the sun with storm clouds. But again his power paled in comparison to that of nature.

"When project Ranger is complete I may just scrap you and your machine army just for the hell of it," Darkness muttered. "Hell I might do that before Ranger is completed. Sounds fun."

"Well isn't that nice," muttered Spacemon. "I'm doing the best I can, but I'm not good with being the weather-mon."

"Well work on it," snapped Darkness. "Otherwise I might not be as lenient as to resort to throwing spanners."

Spacemon rolled his eye.

"And I saw that," Darkness snarled.

Server Dock, Sever

The digidestined sat in the dock's cafe. Tai was slowly picking at a chocolate quasonge, washing it down sometimes with a gulp of black coffee.

"Well at least he's eating something now," muttered Kari, sipping at the neck of a Fanta bottle.

"That is an improvement," Ken said. But he saw Tai look over somewhere. He followed his gaze and saw that Tai was looking at a TV. He smiled at how like Earth the digital world could be in one moment, and totally Mars the next.

His smile faded when he saw Tai's face darken out of the corner of his eye, and what was on the TV.

It was showing a video feed of the sky changing from pale, morning blue, to deep, boiling thunder clouds. Ken squinted and saw the caption 'Koromon Village'. The feed changed, showing a close up of the village being torn apart by an army of digimon, mechanical and cyborg alike.

Ken saw Tai mouth the word, 'Spacemon,' and then 'Not now.'

Tai got to his feet, putting down some money for the quasonge and the coffee. Agumon began to get up but Tai motioned for him to stay. Kari got up and turned up the volume of the TV.

"... The attack has been expected for some time, it had not been predicted of how great the numbers of enemy enforces would be. The Viral Army is now marching through the Koromon Village and is estimated and predicated to reach the Server Dock within three hours."

Kari looked at the other digidestined her eyes wide. The other's faces mirrored her look of horror. Then the voice on the TV changed. Kari looked back at it and the crystal clear voice of the news reader and the clear picture of the Koromon Village were replaced with white noise and static.

Then the static disappeared and the white noise faded into background. All that Kari could see now was darkness, with an even darker silhouette, sat in a throne. More white noise, then the warped strangled noise became a strong, metallic voice.

"I am the Lord of Darkness. I am the master of the Viral Realms, commander of the Dark Army. I am after the digidestined who now reside in the Server Dock's cafe. I will devastate the docks unless; they reach the remnants of the Koromon Village by noon. You have my demands digidestined. I hope you will not disappoint."

The TV became clouded with static once again.

Tai was resting on the barrier, his face set in concentration. He had a theory that if he formed his thoughts hard enough, he could block out the Dark One's thoughts. But he couldn't stop it completely. The odd snippet or sentence made it through his mental barricade.

'…Of you own army… The world under your thumb… Everyone would bow down to you… There would be nothing that you couldn't do…'

Tai rolled his eyes. He had heard it all before. The attempt of converting the good guy into being a bad guy. The offer seriously was tempting though.

He gasped. Had he really just thought that?

The momentary distraction had allowed The Dark One to fill his head.

'About bloody time. I was wondering when you were going to give that up and listen to reason.'

"Piss off," Tai snapped.

'Hah! Not likely. I am the essence of all things dark. The digital world shall be plunged into shadows, and with that done… the universe will fall.'

"Hey buddy reality check. You've got to get through me first. And I don't see me budging. I don't know what you see but I'm ready to kick your ass."

"Tai!"

He turned around at the sound of his name. Kari was running quick, and in the distance, Tai could see the other digidestined walking in a different direction.

"What, what is it?" Tai asked.

"We've just received an ultimatum," Kari explained. "Reach the Koromon Village by twelve o'clock or the Server Dock and the rest of the continent gets ripped apart."

Tai checked his watch. The hands read thirty five to twelve.

"Damn," he hissed. "It took a whole days journeying to get there last time."

"Hello? Super powerful and easily flight enabled digimon at you beck and call? Did you forget that? Let's just go already!"

Tai nodded and ran after Kari, Patamon, Gatomon and Gabumon already digivolving.

Koromon Village, Server

Darkness fiddled with a small control board. He was sheltered from a sudden storm by a large tent that had several tables laden with scientific equipment. The digidestined were sure to come. He was certain that they would come.

Spacemon stood beside his master, checking a surveillance feed from the Viral Tower.

The guards of The Dark One's body still stood vigilant. They so far had not launched an attack upon the viral capital. Not yet anyway. It wouldn't be long until they took the opportunity to strike down his master's home city.

"Any difference?" Darkness asked. Spacemon shook his head slowly.

"I'm sure they're planning something," muttered Spacemon.

"You're always sure they're planning something," muttered Darkness. "Any way it matters not. We shall soon return there."

"Then what the bloody hell is the point of this?"

"We need to make an impression. On the digidestined. On the digital world. Plus, we need a proper test subject for Project Ranger."

"Fair enough. But what do we do if they-"

Something exploded outside.

"Attack us by surprise," snarled Spacemon. He ran out of the tent and looked up. Seraphimon was hovering several hundred feet above them. Hundreds of thousands of metallic and organic digimon alike were gathering, raising cruel looking weapons of one kind or another.

"Argh, my Lord?" he snapped.

"Go ahead."

Spacemon grinned and launched himself into the air, rocket exhaust blasting from the heels of his feet. He raised his fist and it began to glow red.

"Martian Fist!" he bellowed. Seraphimon looked down and spread his fingers out.

"Strike of the Seven Stars!" yelled the Mega. The seven glowing spheres flew at Spacemon. The Master grunted as each one pounded into his metallic armour, but by no means stopped.

"I'm going to rip you apart!" he roared.

"Comrade Missile!" yelled CyberGarurumon. Spacemon veered off course, the lethal missiles missing him by millimetres.

He looked up, as HerculesKabuterimon dived straight at him.

"Giga Scissors Claw!" roared the insect digimon. Spacemon swerved aside and kicked out, foot driving into the attacker's mid-section.

"This is almost too easy!" crowed Spacemon.

The blow to the back of his head slammed his mouth shut on his victory speech. He roared and spun around to face the attacker.

"Crystalline Fury!" roared MagmaGreymon. Spacemon dodged the first three jabs, but a lightning fast uppercut smashed against his jaw the Master level was forced to step back.

'This one's stronger than the average digimon,' thought Spacemon. 'He's actually holding his own against me.'

He smiled.

'I might actually have to take this seriously.'

"Blazing Nova!" roared MagmaGreymon. Spacemon started as the flames raced towards him. The metal digimon slashed through the boiling fires, causing the tightly packed sphere to dissipate.

"What?" MagmaGreymon whispered.

Tai, standing on his partner's shoulders, was also lost for words.

'The last time we fought Spacemon, he and MagmaGreymon were evenly matched,' thought the digidestined. 'Yet now he's just playing with us.'

"Surprised digidestined scum! You should be, I've been holding back in our last encounters, but no more! Now I fight for real!" roared Spacemon. He drew back his fist, when something small, dark and fast bolted up in between them.

Spacemon jolted, and then bowed deeply.

"My Lord, I was handling the situation fine. There was no need for you to intervene with such trivial opponents."

"Clearly Spacemon," muttered the short digimon. "You've been handling the digidestined _so_ well the last two times you've encountered them that maybe it's time you had a break. They are nothing but a joke compared to me."

Tai stared at the digimon, as CyberGarurumon hovered beside him.

"Who's this clown?" asked Matt.

"Don't know," Tai replied. "But from the way Spacemon acts around him, I'd say he's about ten times stronger at least."

"I doubt he's nothing our digimon can't handle," Matt sniggered. "We managed to save the digital world from guys even stronger than these two."

"No Matt, we haven't," Tai said. "I don't know what it is, but I get this sort of bad feeling from Spacemon's boss."

"You feel that too?" Kari asked, hovering alongside her brother. Tai nodded.

"Who are you?" called Tai. The digimon smiled darkly.

"I am the Lord of Darkness. But I guess you're after my digimon name, not my title. Very well. I am Destructamon. I am a Master level digimon of the highest abilities. Thus."

Destructamon snapped his fingers. The ground beneath them exploded, the digimon standing on it ripped apart by the force of the explosion.

Tai and the others looked on in horror at the display of ruthlessness below them. Then he looked back at Destructamon.

"They were your men!" he yelled.

"Expendable men I must say," Destructamon muttered, looking at the mechanical knuckles on one hand. "When you're a digimon of my power you only need a few men on your side. Let them deal with recruitment. I am the all powerful Lord of Darkness. I shall revive my omnipotent master, and then, the whole universe will tremble!"

"Dude, come up with something original," Matt sniggered.

"Viral Cannon."

The attack slammed into MagmaGreymon faster than anyone could react. The Master level was thrown backwards, Tai flying from MagmaGreymon's shoulder.

"Tai!" Kari screamed.

CyberGarurumon started, but Destructamon was there. A metallic hand clamped around CyberGarurumon's and drew it behind the larger digimon's back. The wolf cyborg roared in pain.

Angewomon dived down, trying desperately to catch Tai.

"Don't" Matt yelled. "You won't get there in time! And besides, we need to beat Destructamon!"

Izzy looked at Matt. Had Matt really just told Kari to leave Tai for dead? What had happened to Matt?

"Is it just me digidestined of Friendship, or is your digimon dedigivolving?" Destructamon sniggered.

Matt looked down, and saw that CyberGarurumon was glowing blue.

"Matt, something's sapping my strength!" yelled CyberGarurumon. Matt looked, and saw blue electricity crackling over CyberGarurumon, and flowing into Destructamon's hand.

"Didn't expect that now did you?" sniggered Destructamon. "I am the ultimate digimon. I cannot be defeated."

Destructamon's free hand morphed into a dark, laser like object. He jabbed this into CyberGarurumon's back.

"Viral Buster!" he thundered.

The blast of energy, fired at point blank range, nearly bored a whole straight through CyberGarurumon. The wolf-like digimon however remained intact, but was sent spiralling down into the earth.

"As I have already said," snapped Destructamon. "You could never hope to defeat me. Or my friend here."

He indicated Spacemon.

"We've managed to defeat your kind before," snapped Kari. "We can do it again!"

"Yes and I'm sure you'll do swell at that," yawned Destructamon. "But… how may I ask are you going to defeat us without your esteemed leader?"

Kari looked around.

Somehow, Spacemon had managed to creep behind them without their noticing, and grab the unconscious Tai.

"Shall we my lord?" Spacemon asked, throwing Tai like a rag doll to Destructamon. The smaller digimon caught Tai one handed.

"Yes, I feel as though we've outstayed our welcome," he said.

"You let Tai go!" screamed Kari.

"You heard her!" snapped T.K. "Give him back!"

Destructamon pondered this for a moment, in mock thought. The he sneered.

"I don't think that this point is negotiable. Spacemon!"

"My lord!"

The two digimon turned to face the same way, the launched themselves forwards, flying off to whichever corner of the digital world they had come from. And they took Tai with them.


	15. Listen Guys

Digimon Adventure

**X**

Listen Guys…

To my dedicated fans.

Sorry.

The Digimon Adventure X thing is just a bit too… well I started good and in my opinion I just ruined it. So I've come up with a new idea. Digimon Adventure X is going to be rewritten. However, I've developed several changes to the plot line. You'll still have your same favourite characters… well not all of them at the begging but I'll get there.

Just stay with my guys. I'll try and get the first chapter up A.S.A.P.

In the meantime, why not my other fanfics? I've tried to be just as caring with my other fics as I have been with this one. Hey, most of them I'll probably rewrite anyway at some point…

The Lord of All Chaos.

C U Soon 


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